Turn the Tides
by Ace Axolotl
Summary: AU. Having superpowers is unusual, but not so unheard of that it causes problems in modern day society. So what's with the sudden targeting of these people? And what does the recent rise in crime have to do with it? No new updates. Please check latest chapter for details.
1. Chapter 1

Samus had to get out of here, right now.

Absentmindedly, she tapped her foot against the hard floor of the restaurant; more than a little annoyed it was so crowded tonight. Surely she'd make a scene if she stood up and left, but what else was she to do? Samus was in danger.

Danger of having her night ruined, that is. Why did she ever agree to go on a date with Snake? It certainly wasn't his charisma that convinced her. The man was just insistent, she supposed, wearing her down over the months until Samus finally figured that if she allowed him to take her out just once, he would be satisfied. But the stench of cigarette smoke was only thinly veiled by cologne, and this cliché dinner date was boring her to tears.

"So my friends and I ended up renting this buggy, and we were going to use it to trek through the mountains," Snake continued. Either he was too wrapped up in his own tale to notice, or Samus was very good at hiding her disinterest. "But then my friend ended up crashing the darn thing while we were on a bridge. Can you believe that? It was a straight shot across and he still managed to ram it into something." He laughed. Samus supposed she was supposed to do the same, and managed to give him an almost-genuine chuckle.

Her date smiled, pleased that he had gotten a positive response. "In retrospect, maybe we shouldn't have let him drive. But yeah, we ended up having to pay for the damages and then went the entire way on foot because we couldn't afford another rental."

A thought struck Samus; a plan on how to politely save the rest of her evening.

She put on a look of realization, then regret. "I'm very sorry, Snake, tonight's been really nice but I just remembered that I was supposed to do maintenance work on R.O.B today," she started. Her date's smile twisted into a look of confusion, then disappointment. She stood up and grabbed her bag. "It must have slipped my mind, but I shouldn't wait any longer to do it, the poor thing might break down." Samus set a few bills down to cover the cost of her food, once again apologizing. "Really, I'm sorry; maybe we can do this another time?"

Snake sighed, but perked up at her offer of a second chance. "Yeah, don't worry about it; you do what you need to do." She smiled, satisfied with her half-lie. R.O.B did need maintenance, but it wasn't urgent and Shulk could handle any emergency repairs. Snake didn't know that, though. When she left the restaurant, she could see him out of the corner of her eye, sighing and leaning back in his seat, the frustration of a ruined date clear on his face. Samus only felt a little guilty.

Stepping into the cool night, she wasted no time in beginning her trek home. However, she'd only gone a few blocks down the road before anxiousness started creeping in the back of her head. Someone was following her. Her stroll turned into a brisk walk as her heart started pounding. Anyone stupid enough to mug her would find the unpleasant surprise that Samus could beat their ass into the ground, but that didn't mean she wanted to go through the trouble.

Suddenly, she turned into an alleyway and slowed her walk to examine the walls. Sometimes there were spaces in-between buildings which no normal human being could fit through, but Samus could. For someone who was quite tall, it was ironic that she was gifted with the strange ability to contort herself into impossible positions without breaking anything. Samus was a master at using this to her advantage, but with the alleyway bare of any escape routes, she could not use her ability now. Instead, she turned around and raised her fists, ready to engage whatever was following her.

A massive force slammed into her from behind, pinning her down. She kicked at the thing, using her heels to dig into its skin as much as possible. Whatever was holding her down let out a monstrous roar and released its grip. Samus scrambled back to her feet, tempted to just run while the beast recovered. But she had a feeling it would just start following her again, so instead she rushed forwards, fist raised to land a brutal uppercut. Before she could land another hit, it grabbed her by the arm and flung her against the wall. She resisted the urge to cry out in pain, putting her energy into getting back on her feet. A normal person probably would have had their bones broken from that throw, but Samus was not a normal person and she refused to go down so easily.

The beast came lumbering towards her again, passing under the rays of a streetlight for a moment, and Samus could finally see it was some kind of giant koopa. Except koopas normally were not this massive, and did not grow spikes on their shells. So what was this thing? There was little time for her to contemplate this, as the monster opened its mouth and started spewing fire.

Samus let a curse slip as she ducked out of the way, but the flames still licked at her and were no doubt going to leave nasty burns. She crawled out of range, grabbing a trash bag from the nearest dumpster and shoving it into the creature's mouth. The young woman hoped it would stop the fire, but it seemed the monster was more concerned with trying to charge her than immediately getting the trash out of its mouth. One hand grabbed her, claws sinking into her skin, while the beast ripped through the garbage bag with razor sharp teeth and spit out the contents.

"You're gonna pay for that little trick," it growled, before a fist collided with Samus' head and her world went black.

* * *

Robin should've paid more attention to their surroundings. Perhaps then they would've noticed the man spying on them for the past hour, and would've had more time to plan their actions.

Instead, they had been too busy skimming the bookshelf of the fantasy section in the library, observing the titles and contemplating which one to read next. They had taken a copy of _Winds of Change_ off the bookshelf to preview the contents when a hand rested on their shoulder. Robin immediately spun around to face the culprit, a rather large man with curly orange hair and a stern look on his face.

"Can I help you?" They asked, and the man smirked.

"Yes. I need you to come with me."

Robin frowned. Out of the corner of their eye, they skimmed through the letters on the page they opened the book on, looking for anything useful in the event of a worst case scenario. This man did not look the least bit like someone Robin wanted to walk off alone with. "Why? Who are you?" They asked, but the man stayed relatively quiet.

"That's not important right now."

"Yes it is," Robin scoffed. Perhaps it was a bit rude to judge him based on his looks, but they couldn't help the uneasy feeling that began to rise in their gut from being in this man's presence. "I don't know who you are or what you want and you expect me to just follow you to who knows where, and trust that you won't try something?"

The stranger scowled, his grip on their shoulder tightening uncomfortably. "Let me rephrase myself: you're coming with me, and you don't have a choice in the matter."

"Are you seriously trying to kidnap me? In a public area?" Robin could not believe it. Either this guy was extremely stupid, or confident enough to know that he would get away with it. The latter thought was terrifying. "That's pretty bold."

With fear as a motivator, Robin did not wait for the man to make another move. They looked down at the book, searching for the sentence they had spotted earlier while skimming over the page. " _The fire from the wizard's spell burned a brilliant red as it struck down his enemies._ " Robin recited from the page. Almost immediately, the paper began to heat up, and they turned the book around to face the stranger as the fireball described from the book materialized. It flew forth and slammed into the man, sending him stumbling back a few feet. Quickly, Robin took the opportunity to escape to the front desk.

Sitting there was a bored teenager, his own nose stuck in a book. As they came running up to him, he opened his mouth to comment about not running in the library when they cut him off. "Please call the cops, there's a man in here trying to abduct me."

The stranger in question had since recovered from the fire attack, and out of the corner of their eye Robin could see he was fast approaching them. However, the teen only shrugged at her. "Yeah? Then where is he?" When they pointed over to the stranger, it seemed he was no longer there, and the hall was empty.

"He was there just a moment ago! I swear!" Robin hurriedly explained, but the employee didn't look like he was buying into it. "Fine! If you won't call them, then can you at least lend me a phone so that I can?" When the teen shook his head, they were seriously starting to regret not having their own phone. Robin sighed in defeat. The man didn't look like he was going to try anything as long as there were witnesses, so for now they were safe standing by the front desk. But Robin couldn't just stand there and wait until he went away; it was highly unlikely that we would, especially since the library had to eventually close down and kick them out for the night.

Taking a deep breath, Robin strolled over to a different section, attempting to look calm and casual as they thought about how to make their escape. No strangers seemed to be around, let alone any nice enough to let them burrow a cell phone. It seemed like Robin's best chance was to make the run to the police station. However, they knew they were a dreadfully slow runner. There was no way they could outrun that man without some kind of self defense, which was why Robin was quickly browsing through book titles to try to find anything they could use as a weapon.

They were given little time to do so when the man reappeared again, keeping his stroll casual but getting closer and closer to Robin with each stride. Hastily, they grabbed a book off the shelf, stopped by the front desk again to check the book out, then bolted out the door.

As they ran, Robin flipped over page after page, trying to find something he could read aloud when the man inevitably caught up to him.

They were only halfway to the police station when Robin turned to glance behind them; the stranger had indeed followed them, and was only a few yards behind. At any minute he would be right on their heels. Robin's heart raced as the book they had picked up ended up being a romance novel; none of the words would be of any use here! Perhaps, since they had made it this far, Robin had a chance at making it to the station on speed alone.

Their legs burned as they forced them to move, to not slow down under any circumstance. Sweat beaded on their forehead, their heart pounded and their lungs struggled to bring in enough oxygen, but Robin was only one block away. As soon as they turned the corner-

A hand wrapped around Robin's wrist and yanked, hard. They screamed, the noise quickly muffled by another large hand. The last thing Robin saw was the man's wicked smile.

* * *

Two weeks after Samus' disappearance, the police gave up the search for her.

At first, Shulk didn't know who to be angry at, since there were plenty of people to blame. Why were the police giving up on her? Didn't they know how important Samus was to them? Didn't they know that without their help, they lost their biggest chance at finding her? Yet Mashs city was a large place, and police had bigger cases to put effort into than that of a missing person. It was unfair to Shulk, but reasonable on their part. Though the police never outwardly admitted it, they made it obvious that to them, Samus was nothing more than an unlucky person, caught at the wrong place and the wrong time.

Another target to place the blame on was Snake. When he first stopped by after hearing the news to check up on them, the homs would later regret that he lashed out at the man. Maybe if he had walked her home, then she wouldn't have been abducted (and Shulk was almost positive it she was abducted; Samus would have never purposefully abandoned them)! But Snake had explained his side of the story, how she had left him to finish the dinner by himself and not given him a chance to walk her home, and the anger drained out of the teen, replaced with grief.

Shulk was the most inclined to blame himself. For someone who could see the future, certainly it was his fault for not sensing the event before it happened? Deep down, he knew he shouldn't blame himself either, for visions were a sporadic thing, but that didn't stop him from being incredibly frustrated.

Still, life went on. Shulk dropped his classes and instead started taking more shifts at the electronics store he worked at. Even though the last of Samus' paychecks were still being paid to them, it was inevitable that if she was not found, they would stop coming, and Shulk was going to have to take the role of paying the bills. Mac had also insisted on getting a job, but the two had a long argument in which the elder adamantly refused. Shulk was not going to see Mac's grades decline or risk him dropping out when the boy was already so close to graduating. His bachelor's degree could wait and resume progress at any time; Mac's high school diploma could not.

One week after their fight and three weeks after Samus' disappearance, Mac unofficially moved out.

He'd said he come by every now and again, but had left with a bag in hand explaining that his coach was willing to let him stay over at his place. Their household had become even quieter than before, and the emptiness kept a heavy weight on Shulk's heart. Was Mac really still angry at him? Did he leave because he didn't want to be a burden, or was the homs not doing a good enough job of looking after everyone?

Again, it felt like more blame fell to Shulk, and he was at a loss on what to do, on how to make their situation any better. It was a lot harder to fix sad hearts than it was to fix a machine.

A month after Samus' disappearance, a peculiar story ended up on the news.

He'd been washing the dishes with Rock's help, keeping the TV on as background noise, when a spot of orange caught his eye. The boy looked up, watching a bit of the news coverage before a bright flash of blue flung him into the future.

" _I'm not breaking that promise."_

The world came back into focus, but did not stop spinning when it did. Shulk gripped the edge of the sink to steady himself, hearing the faint sound of a glass shattering against the floor. He'd have to clean that up later, but for now the boy was more focused on trying to ground himself, waiting for the detached feeling visions gave him to fade away. The tail end of the news report hummed in his ears. Apparently, someone had just had their house broken into, and the culprit had worn a strange metallic suit to hide their identity.

Shulk stopped paying attention after that, instead looking to where Rock had crawled on top of the sink to be tall enough to reach his shoulder. The robot had placed a hand there to try and comfort the homs. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The older sighed.

"Why don't you go get some rest, you've been working really hard lately."

Shulk wanted to refuse, there were still things he had to do that day, but the look in Rock's eyes told him he wouldn't get very far by arguing against the idea.

"Alright," He dried his hands on a dish towel and trudged into his room, laying down on the bed but not making any effort to bundle underneath the covers. For a few minutes, he laid there, just enjoying the peace. At some point, Pikachu had padded into the room and jumped on the bed, the pokémon snuggling against his side. The homs absentmindedly ran his hand across the rodent's fur, eventually falling asleep.

* * *

Rosalina had not seen Robin in the library for at least a month, and she was seriously starting to worry. Normally, for the two of them going a little while without talking was not a big deal. Even though both of them frequented the public area, they also had different schedules. It wasn't unheard of if they simply had not run into each other for awhile.

However, the two almost never went more than a couple of weeks without meeting up, especially since the elementary school teacher liked having Robin pay visits to her classroom. Rosalina's voice, though soothing, was not always the most ideal to have when reading aloud to her students. She was by no means a boring person, but of the many times she's read to her students, she's also found the majority were quick to get distracted. Robin, on the other hand, seemed to have the complete opposite happen whenever they read. Even the rowdiest kids would pay attention whenever it was "Robin Day," as they dubbed it, and Rosalina greatly appreciated the help.

It was times like these that the woman wished her friend carried a phone with them, but a gut feeling told her that something wasn't right, and having a phone was not going to help her contact them at this point. But should she just jump to conclusions, and call the police? Rosalina doubted they would do anything if she couldn't provide any evidence her friend was in danger. Should she try to pay them a visit at their apartment? The teacher couldn't help but feel as if pulling such a stunt would be too intrusive on their personal life, but it had been a month, and the worry was eating away at Rosalina.

It took a bit of courage, but the teacher found herself in front of Robin's door the next afternoon. However, no response came after her gentle knocking. "Robin?" She hesitantly called, wondering if that would elicit a reply. Nothing happened.

Were they ignoring her? Were they simply not home? Was Rosalina's gut feeling right, and something bad had happened to them? The teacher had no way of knowing, and the uncertainty ate away at her faster than her worry had.

Almost subconsciously, she started paying more attention to the local news, but saw nothing of her friend. Which meant that either Robin was indeed safe, or whatever had happened to them was not gruesome enough for the media to want to cover it. This gave the teacher mixed feelings.

One story did catch her eye, though, more out of amusement than anything else. Someone had decided to commit the old-fashioned crime of robbing a bank, the person donning a mysterious black coat to hide their identity. The story sounded just like it came from the kinds of comic books her students liked to read, and though she felt a bit sorry that the unfortunate had happened, she couldn't help but find the whole scenario funny.

* * *

"Are you two still in one piece?" Lucina gasped for breath, leaning against the brick wall of the alleyway they had landed in. Even with her armor on, using her ability on all three of them had left her completely drained. However, the effort also most likely saved their lives.

Toon Link nodded, letting go of her and Dark Pit's hands to take a look at their new surroundings. As the smallest of their trio walked out to look at the city streets, Lucina rasped after him. "Don't go too far."

"He'll be fine," Dark Pit said, also taking a moment to scan their surroundings before helping Lucina keep herself steady against the wall. At any moment, she was most likely going to pass out. "You should worry about yourself first." It wasn't long before Toon Link returned, and Lucina greatly appreciated how contagious that little smile of his was. Dark Pit slung her arm around his shoulders, and together they trudged out into the street, Lucina practically dead weight against the winged boy. On their way to the nearest place they could sleep (which was hopefully a hotel), she insisted they stop by a small convenience store, but both Dark Pit and Toon Link denied her, worried more about the girl's health than seeing if they achieved their goal.

Thankfully, it only took about half an hour of walking before they came across a relatively cheap place. They were quick to rent a room for the night, and even quicker to crash on the freshly made beds.

In the morning, Lucina was the last of the three to take a seat at a table in the lounge, large amounts of the hotel's free breakfast food decorating their plates. Lucina might have been self conscious about how much they were taking, but at the same time they were all too hungry to care. Besides, it was the business' fault for making it free. It wasn't until she had at least eaten through her first muffin that Dark Pit handed her a newspaper, the item she had insisted on grabbing last night. Eagerly, she only spent a moment skimming through the headlines before examining the date.

Lucina sighed in relief. They weren't as far back as she wanted to go, but one year and eleven months should be enough time to give them a chance.

The girl set the newspaper back down, picking up another muffin and unwrapping it. "We're pretty far back, which is definitely good," she started, paused to take a bite, and then continued. "But I think at this point we're still too late to completely stop them, the best thing we can do is probably find the others and warn them."

Dark Pit looked up from his third waffle. "That's going to take forever, though, this city is huge! Why don't we just attack them while we still stand a chance?"

"And risk getting our asses kicked? Then we'd be screwed, and coming here would've been for nothing." Lucina said. Like Dark Pit, she also wasn't one who liked to waste time, but the fear of failure far outweighed her preference for efficiency at this point. Finishing her muffin, she took a long swig of orange juice and started on a bowl of cereal.

"Fine," Dark Pit huffed, finishing up the rest of his waffle. "Then where do we start?"

For a while, Lucina did not have an adequate response to give, and the three of them finished breakfast and returned to the room in relative silence. Dark Pit jumped into the shower and Toon Link settled back on the bed to watch TV as she contemplated their next move.

Even if this was a big city, certainly it couldn't be that hard to track down the people they were searching for, especially if they knew where to look? However, they were also on a time limit. Sure, almost two years was a lot of time to work with, but that was also how long it took for everything to go so horribly wrong that their future was no longer worth saving. If they couldn't change the future enough to prevent what happened in their own timeline by the time one year and eleven months passed by, this whole trip would have been for nothing.

But as much as Lucina wanted to prioritize finding those who were currently in the most danger, she was reluctant to admit that she also had to think about who would be nice enough to let three strangers crash at their house. The three of them had a limited supply of money, which would definitely run out after a couple more nights at the hotel. As selfish as it might have sounded, they would have a much harder time accomplishing their goals if they were stuck in the streets.

The bathroom door opened up, and Dark Pit stepped out. He sat down on the edge of one of the beds, glancing at the TV and then back to Lucina. "So, have you decided on what we're gonna do now?"

She nodded. "Yes, I think I know who we need to find first."

* * *

 _I have to say, I'm a little nervous. I've never really made a serious attempt at a multichapter fic before, but I think it'll be worth it to try. With the way I'm writing this, it's a bit tough to determine who to list as the main characters. So as a fair warning, I might change what's currently listed in the future. Thank you for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

"Please put some pants on. It's noon." Marth said, picking up a pair of Ike's pants and throwing them at him. They smacked him in the face, but the man only grumbled and moved the article of clothing so they were no longer blocking his eyesight.

"Oh come on. I don't have any classes today, just let me chill."

Marth sighed. He could sympathize with his roommate wishing to take a day off, and Ike was the kind of person who didn't like getting out of his pajamas unless he had to. But Marth was someone who took pride in his appearance, and he couldn't help but want his long time friend and roommate to do the same.

The door swung open, and the third resident in their dorm came in. Roy had a huge grin on his face, a copy of the school newspaper in one hand. Marth and Ike's stomach dropped.

"Did you guys see the news?" They both shook their head, and Roy proceeded to lift the paper up, pointing to the headline they were supposed to read. "Somebody robbed a bank!"

Ike inwardly groaned. He knew where this was going, but asked anyways. "And you're so excited about this because…?"

The redhead was quick to jump on his roommate's question. "Because it sounds just like something that would happen in _Master Handman_!" He laughed. "The culprit wore this snazzy black coat to hide their identity and everything!"

"They still make those comics?" Marth said incredulously. "And you still read them? I stopped after like the sixth grade."

Roy was only briefly offended. "So? Just because it's make for kids doesn't mean older people can't enjoy them too." He walked away from the doorway and set the paper down on his desk, then took a seat. "More importantly, it gave me a great idea."

This was it. The thing Marth and Ike did not want to hear.

"How cool would it be if we dressed up in our own, like, superhero personas and tried to track down the person who did it?"

His roommates frowned, unconvinced. The three of them had been friends for a long time, and Roy had quite the track record of having his "great ideas" blow up in their faces. His last idea of having a ghost hunt nearly got them arrested for trespassing, and now the redhead wanted them to run around the city pretending to be superheroes? This was more than just asking for trouble.

"I have an even better idea." Ike said. "Let's let the police handle it." Marth nodded in agreement, but Roy pouted.

"Come on! Where's your sense of justice? Did you forget that we have something most police officers don't? I bet if we combine our powers we could find the bad guy in no time flat, and we'd be doing the authorities a huge favor!"

They both opened their mouths to disagree, to tell him that he was in way over his head, but Roy just kept talking. "I even know what we should do first. Since our villain robbed a bank, a very stereotypical place to steal from, I started thinking that maybe they'd hit another predictable place next. Like the art museum!"

This was sounding more and more ridiculous.

"I even talked about it with this guy in class I know, and he wants to join in too! So how about it, tonight we hit the art museum and see if we can find anyone suspicious?"

"Ok, hang on a minute," Marth finally got a word in. "You already planned this with someone else? And you want to start tonight? Aren't you rushing into this a little too fast?"

Roy shook his head, "We'll be fine! All we gotta do is make the costumes, and Ike and I have the rest of the day to do that. We'll even make one for you while you're in class. Come on, guys! This'll be fun, and it's not like we're doing anything bad."

Marth and Ike exchanged glances, both still reluctant to go along with Roy's plan. Looking back over, prepared to reject his idea, they saw that their friend was pulling the puppy dog eyes.

Damn it.

"Fine," Ike sighed. "But only for tonight. We're not making this a regular thing, and if we don't find anything, then it is what it is."

Roy was positively beaming at Ike's words. He wrapped an arm around each of his roommates' shoulders, pulling them in for a hug. "I'll get started on the costumes!"

* * *

Finding Peach was easy. Figuring out how to talk to her was not.

All it took was a quick internet search. After all, there weren't exactly a lot of flower shops in Mashs city. Though Dark Pit, Lucina, and Toon Link had gotten lost quite a few times, they made it to the store by sundown, which actually turned out to be fantastic timing on their part. With the store closing soon, there wouldn't be as many customers, and the three would have the chance to talk to the florist with little interruption.

However, upon walking into the store, the trio was greeted not by blonde hair and a sweet face, but by the short stature and squeaky voice of a hocotatian man.

Dark Pit never understood hocotatians. Sure, there were many alien species that had migrated to earth and lived with humans during the planet's history, but the winged boy didn't know why hocotatians in particular chose to do so. The oxygen in the atmosphere was poisonous to their people, what purpose could they have for staying on a planet that would kill them? And from the airtight suit that the flower shop employee wore, it looked like their species hadn't even evolved to withstand the harsh conditions yet.

"Are you three looking for anything in particular?" His voice shook Dark Pit out of his thoughts. Unsure of what to do, the trio had been idly browsing through the arrangements on display, pretending they were actually interested in buying something.

"Oh, uh, we're just looking around for now. Thank you." Lucina said awkwardly, and the little man went back to his business. But Dark Pit was tired of beating around the bush. They wouldn't be getting anywhere anytime soon if no one had the guts to make a move.

"Where's the lady that runs this place?" He blurted. Lucina looked like she wanted to scold him for being so forward and making them look suspicious, but the employee didn't seem to think the request was strange.

"Oh, she's in the back. I'll go get her for you." With that, he jumped down from the stool he'd been sitting on and disappeared through a door behind the front counter. After a few moments, he stepped back out, the lady they were looking for following behind him.

The three of them were taken aback at first. This Peach looked so different compared to the girl they knew in their timeline. The girl standing in front of them looked so much healthier; having quite a bit more weight to her than their Peach's thin frame, her hair fluffier and a more vibrant shade of blonde, her eyes shining. Most important of all, the smile on her face was filled to the brim with genuine happiness.

"What can I do for you today?" She asked, and none of them were quite sure how to respond.

Peach looked a bit confused when she was met with silence, but finally Lucina spoke up. "We need to talk. You don't have to believe us, but at least hear us out. Please." Relief struck them when the florist nodded, though a surprised look graced her features. That was a bit easier than they thought it was going to be. The blonde moved to pull out extra seats, arranging them in a circle before sitting down.

The hocotatian employee also returned to his stool as the three moved to take the seats offered to them. Dark Pit wasted no time in diving into their story. "We're from the future," he began, and Peach's face had already twisted into one of curiosity. "In our timeline, there was this group of people. They went around the city and hunted down people like you, who have supernatural powers. We weren't around to know what their original motive was, but what does matter is that they succeeded."

Peach's expression hardened, but her little employee had his mouth wide open in shock. Perhaps Lucina was being a bit hopeful, but it looked like they believed their story so far. She continued. "A lot of, um, bad things happened after that." The bluenette knew it would be less convincing to leave their story vague, but she didn't quite have the stomach to go into detail just yet. Sneaking a glance at Dark Pit and Toon Link, it looked like they weren't too thrilled to talk about it either. "The situation had gotten to the point where the best thing we could do was use my power and travel back to this time, so that we could warn you and the others and hopefully prevent what's going to happen. So, here we are now."

The trio did not receive an immediate response. Peach simply sat there, fiddling with her fingers. "Ah, this is a lot to take in." She spoke quietly.

"Do you not believe us?" Lucina asked.

"No, no, it's not that," Peach said, and the three breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just quite shocking to hear about. I think your story is a little too far-fetched for you to go to the effort to make it up and then try to trick me with it, and I don't think anyone would have a good reason to lie to me in the first place. So, I do believe you." The trio took a collective sigh of relief; incredibly grateful Peach was willing to put trust in them. "Thank you for coming to warn me about what's going to happen. But what's there to do to prevent ourselves from getting caught?"

Lucina hummed in thought. None of them had really thought about it, more concerned with being able to reach all the people they were looking for. "Well, I'm not sure," she admitted. "Make sure you don't go anywhere alone, I guess, and keep a phone on you at all times. But we'll make sure to check up on you every now and again while we're out looking for the others."

"I see." Peach said. Her eyebrows rose, as if she realized something. "Do you three have a place to stay?"

Lucina wasn't going to lie, that statement really got her hopes up. She didn't doubt that Peach was kind-hearted enough to let strangers stay in her house, but she was still surprised that the blonde was so quick to offer. "We brought enough money to get a hotel room." Not wanting to sound too desperate, she left out the bit about not having enough for more than a couple of nights. Thankfully, Peach got the message.

"Don't waste your money on a hotel." She shook her head. "We've got plenty of room at our house, and if you want to keep an eye on us, why not just stay over?"

"You'd let us do that?" Dark Pit was just as surprised as Lucina was. Peach smiled and nodded. She walked into the back room and returned a few moments later with a purse and a pair of keys in hand.

"It's just about time for us to close up. Olimar, can you get them settled in upstairs? I'll be right up after you guys."

The little hocotatian man climbed down from his stool and walked over to the back room. "Sure thing," he called back to Peach, and then looked at the trio who would now be staying with them. "Come on, the house is upstairs." He explained, walking into the room and making his way up the stairs nestled in the corner.

"So you two live together?" Lucina asked, breaking the small bit of awkward silence that started to form. She hadn't remembered Olimar being in their original timeline, and was curious as to why the guy was here now.

They reached the top of the stairs. Olimar had to climb a little ladder to reach the light switch, but he flicked it on and illuminated the living room. It was a comfortable looking place, with plush carpet, a soft couch sitting across from a small TV, and a bookshelf in the corner. To the right was a small kitchen, and Lucina presumed the couple of doors across the room led to the bedrooms and bathroom. "Yeah," he answered her question, but to Lucina's disappointment, did not elaborate. Instead, he walked over to a cupboard and climbed into it. The hocotatian pulled out spare blankets and pillows, and the three took that as their cue to help him carry the items into the guest room. "We've only got one spare bed, but we can make a pile of pillows on the floor." He said, and Toon Link perked up. Even if it was on the floor, having a giant pile of pillows and blankets sounded wonderful to him.

Peach appeared in the doorway soon afterwards. Together, the five of them laid out the bedding on the floor. "Great, now that that's done, I'll start on dinner." She grinned. "While we eat, do you think you could tell us more about the other people you want to look for? You know, the ones you said have powers, like us? I'd love to know what they're like!"

* * *

Samus sighed, slipping off the helmet of her power suit as she stepped into her designated bedroom.

"Bad day?" Robin asked, sitting on the bed in their respective side of the room, a book resting in their hands. Granted, every day had been terrible for Samus during the past month, but Robin was right. Today had been particularly bad.

"Yeah," she said, testing a switch on her suit. Normally, she was allowed to take it the thing off in her bedroom and rest in more comfortable clothing. However, today she had failed her third escape attempt, and the switch to take the suit off wasn't functional, condoning her to wearing the thing for the rest of the night. Though the metal the outfit was made of enhanced her powers whenever she wore it, it also left her feeling exceptionally drained after prolonged usage of the substance. The next chance she had to take the suit off would not be for awhile, and there was no doubt that when that time came, she would be absolute exhausted.

Walking across the small space, Samus reclined into her own bed, trying to get as comfortable as possible. She didn't really succeed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Robin had been the smarter of the two. Instead of denying the offer to work with them, like Samus had, the bookworm had agreed. So far, they had been playing the role of loyal underling, and had not yet had to suffer being yanked around by an autopilot program. Still, Samus knew Robin was just as trapped as she was. If they made one wrong move, they'd surely face the same fate she had. Perhaps one of these days, they would be able to pull off an escape attempt, but Samus doubted the chance would come any time soon.

"No, not really." Samus replied, rolling onto her side and attempting to get some rest.

* * *

"Oh good, there you are!" Roy said as Marth approached the back side of the art museum, their designated meet up spot. "I brought your costume." He pulled a long blue piece of cloth out of the duffel bag he was carrying and handed it to Marth.

"Are these the curtains?" The bluenette exclaimed, running his fingers over the material. "These are the curtains! I can't believe you tore them up to make a cape!"

Roy only shrugged his shoulders. "Chill, we can always buy new ones." This excuse did little to ease the irritation of his roommate, but he slung the cape over his shoulders anyways. As it settled and draped down his back, it was also revealed that a poorly drawn shield was in the middle of the cape. The symbol was quite similar to the crude pictures Ike and Roy were also wearing on the back of their shirts. Roy had an odd pattern that looked like it was supposed to be fancy, but with his limited art skills, looked more like a five year old's doodle. Ike, meanwhile, had the more discernible picture of a flower.

"What are these symbols supposed to mean?" Marth asked.

Roy could only offer a shrug. "They just look cool." He leaned back against the wall. "Now we just have to wait for Link to show up; he's the guy I told you guys about."

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Marth grumbled, tapping his foot impatiently.

Only a few minutes passed when a blonde hylian approached, clad in a green shirt with his custom-made symbol, a trio of triangles, and a rather silly floppy green hat. Roy waved him over, smiling. "Hey, you made it! These are my friends, Ike and Marth. You guys, this is Link." The two bluenettes waved. Link didn't say anything, but smiled and nodded his head to both in greeting.

At this time, the sun had already set, and they were quite a few hours into the night. This was the prime time for criminals to show themselves, and the four were ready to begin their adventure.

"Okay Ike, can you give us a lift?" The guy in question grunted as the concrete beneath their feet shuddered, pushing the group up to the air vent. Roy and Link had no problem getting their scrawny frames to fit into the narrow passageway, but Marth was going to have a bit more trouble shimmying through. Ike was thankful to learn that there was no way his muscular build could fit into the passageway, and instead he would have to keep watch outside.

Their newly designated watch guard returned the ground to its original position as Marth, Roy, and Link started their venture through the vents. For a long while, nothing had happened. The three had been crawling around for what seemed like hours, and Marth was just about to ask if they could go back, when Roy suddenly gasped.

"What? You see something?" He whispered, suddenly interested. Had Roy been right? Were they really going to catch a criminal tonight?

"Nah, I just hit my funny bone." Marth wanted to scream.

They continued the trek for a few more minutes when Roy let out a second gasp, but immediately shushed his friends before Marth could fire off a complaint. "I think I see someone!"

"It's probably just the security guard," the bluenette hissed.

"No way, he's not wearing the uniform!" Roy paused, observing the figure's movements for a few more moments. "And it looks like they're trying to take something. Shit, it's the criminal!" Quickly, he unscrewed the screen from the vent and dropped down into the room. Link and Marth had no choice but to follow him down.

The room was dimly lit, and Marth could only barely see the outline of an extremely short, fat man holding a piece of presumably stolen artwork. "Hold it right there buddy, where do you think you're going?" Roy all but shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the figure.

The person let out a hearty chuckle. "You three look ridiculous!" He snorted. "What are those supposed to be, costumes? It ain't Halloween just yet!"

Marth was thankful for the dark now, as no one could see the embarrassed blush that practically turned his face red. Link and Roy seemed unaffected by the insult, however. "You're trying to steal that thing, aren't you?"

"Yeah, you caught me in the act, but that doesn't mean you can actually stop me!" The man cackled, making a break for the door. Link sprinted after him, getting there before their target could and throwing his arms out to block the exit. In an odd turn of events, the man did not change his strategy. Instead, he charged straight towards Link, opening his mouth and chomping down on the young adult's arm. The hylian screeched (the first sound he'd made that night) and kicked out, sending the man flying back a few feet before grasping at his arm in an attempt to stop the blood that began to leak from the wound.

Marth saw this as his chance, and attempted to grab at the stranger to apprehend him. However, just as the bluenette was inches away, the thief turned around and pulled a move that Marth would forever hate the man for.

He farted.

"Holy shit!" The teen screamed and held his nose as the foulest stench he'd ever been exposed to assaulted his sense of smell. How could a presumably human body produce such an odor? It actually brought tears to his eyes, and he could only hopelessly watch as the criminal made his escape, wildly laughing as he disappeared down the hall.

Roy, the only one not crippled by an attack, was quick to start running after the man, his arm raised, but Marth stopped him. "Don't!"

"What? But he's getting away!" Roy cried, as if they actually still stood a chance of stopping the man. But it was more important that Marth did not find out if the disgusting stink he'd been forced to breathe in was also bad enough to be highly flammable. At this point, the bluenette didn't doubt the possibility, and he did not want to rely on the sprinklers to douse the flames.

Not two seconds after the thief vanished, the night guard of the museum burst into the room. He shined a light on each of the three, confusion written all over his face. "The hell's going on? What are you kids doing in here?"

Roy was quick to raise his arms up in a sign of peace. "I swear, we can explain!"

* * *

 _So apparently Ike doesn't have a symbol on his cape. I didn't even realize it until I had to write that little snippet, hopefully I gave him the appropriate one. Also, on a more important note, I plan to have updates for this about once a week, give or take. Thank you all very much for the positive feedback I've gotten so far!_


	3. Chapter 3

Toon Link had been there for an hour, but he already hated school.

A few days after him, Lucina, and Dark Pit settled into their new temporary home with Peach and Olimar, the kind florist had brought up the idea of signing Toon Link and Dark Pit up for school.

"Sure, it's important that we find everyone we need to, but have you ever thought about what you're going to do after all this is over?" She had explained. "It's very important for you three to get an education if you want to be successful."

Of course, the trio hadn't thought about what they were going to do after they fixed the timeline. Lucina had objected to the idea at first; while she looked just a little too old to attend public schooling, Dark Pit and Toon Link would have plenty of time to sign up at a later date. But for now, they did not have time to go to school when they could be spending those hours of the day searching for the people they needed to find.

"But there's a chance some of the kids at the school might have powers. You said some of the people who were captured were pretty young, right?" Peach was insistent. Dark Pit managed to weasel his way out of going, but a couple of days after the discussion, Toon Link found himself starting his first day of seventh grade.

The classes themselves were alright, aside from the fact that they expected Toon Link to sit completely still and listen to a teacher talk for a prolonged period of time. The boy had stood up to at least stretch his legs at one point during the lesson, and was promptly scolded by the teacher. It left a bitter taste in Toon Link's mouth, but he didn't dwell on it for long.

It was the fact that his friends were here that made his first day of school simultaneously good and absolutely horrible.

Imagine Toon Link's surprise when he walked into his first class, and Ness was sitting right there! Granted, he looked a bit different, as he was shorter and had a red cap sitting on his fluffy black hair, but that boy was still unmistakably Ness! The blonde had wanted to take a seat right next to his friend, but had to settle for a desk in the back row when all the spots had already been taken.

That was alright though, because at lunch not only was Ness there, but so were Lucas, Nana, and Popo! Toon Link wasted no time in sitting himself down at their table, between a brown-haired boy and another with a metallic blue build that he didn't recognize. It was okay that no one remembered him; Toon Link would just have to make friends with them again, and that wasn't going to be hard.

The group of friends, though confused the new kid had insisted on sitting with them, did not reject Toon Link's presence. They did, however, not know what to say to him. So instead of trying to start a conversation, the friendship circle had continued their lunch as normal, wondering if Toon Link would jump in.

"Did you guys see the new episode of _Joey 202_ last night?" Ness said, which started a whole discussion among the group that left Toon Link unsure of what to do. No, he had not seen the new episode of _Joey 202_ last night. In fact, he had never even heard of the show to begin with.

The entire lunch period left Toon Link feeling alienated, and he spent the rest of the day subconsciously brewing over those feelings. Sure, he had expected to be a little distant from his friends when he saw them again. After all, he was in a different time now, a time where nobody was supposed to know who he was yet. But Toon Link just hadn't expected the isolation to hurt so much.

"Good afternoon," Olimar greeted as he stepped back into the flower shop that evening. "How was school today?" An innocent question, but it served as a reminder of what had happened, how his friends had practically rejected him.

The little blonde couldn't help it. He started to cry.

Toon Link made sure to get to school early the next day. Sure, the previous day had been a little rough, but he was not going to give up so easily. They were his friends in their timeline, and he was determined to be friends with them in this one, too.

Only a handful of students were in the class when Toon Link walked in, and he was thankful to see that Ness was there, a plethora of empty desks around him. The blonde strolled up to the seat on Ness' right, tapping on the desk lightly to get his attention.

"Huh? Oh, you can sit there if you want, it's not reserved for anybody or anything." Toon Link gladly took the opportunity, and crawled into the desk. The blonde was feeling better about today already, and didn't quite notice the nasty look one kid shot him right before class began.

Lunch did not fare too much better than the day before, as the conversation topic was yet another thing Toon Link knew nothing about, but the friend group had at least smiled and greeted him when he took a seat. It was progress.

He left school that day feeling pretty confident in himself; Toon Link would have his friends back in no time!

"Hey! Link, right? Can I talk to you for a minute?" The boy almost didn't stop when a student tried to wave him over. Toon Link had had a bit of a hard time adjusting to people calling him just "Link," but "Toon Link" had been determined too weird of a name when they registered him for school. Walking over, he was greeted by a sneer from the kid who called him over.

"Who do you think you are?" He sniffed, looking at Toon Link with distaste. When the blonde didn't respond, too confused as to what was going on, the kid only got angrier. "You just got here and already you're latching onto the popular kids. It's sad, really."

What in the world was this guy talking about? Toon Link just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really understand what popularity had to do with him trying to make friends, but the kid kept rambling.

"And they keep brushing you off, so haven't you gotten the hint yet? They want nothing to do with you, and you're just embarrassing yourself trying to make friends with them. They're jerks, all of them!"

Toon Link frowned, his fists clenched as he vehemently shook his head in rejection to the kid's words. They may not be the exact same people Toon Link knew, but there was no way that his friends could be jerks in any kind of timeline!

"Fine! Don't listen to me!" The kid snarled back, then took a deep breath to try and control his growing anger. "I'm just trying to warn you because I'm sick of seeing you follow them around like a lost little puppy. But if you want to learn things the hard way, be my guest!" With that, he stormed off, leaving Toon Link alone.

* * *

"Hey, well if it isn't Snake!" Douglas' booming voice resounded through the bar almost as soon as Snake walked in. The man smiled to his friend as he ordered a beer from the bartender, then made his way over to the booth Douglas was situated in, already halfway through a drink of his own.

"It's been a while since we've had the chance to have a drink together," He said while Snake took a seat. "So how's it been going for you?"

"Ah, it's been ok. Just the same old, same old. How about you?" Snake half-lied. Aside from Samus' disappearance and all the mysteries that came with it, Snake was doing just fine. But he did not want to talk about Samus right now, and he knew Douglas probably didn't want to either. So he left his answer vague.

His friend, thankfully, wasn't bothered by the short answer. "Well it's good to hear you haven't been doing any worse!" The man stopped to take a sip of his drink, and then continued. "As for me, we're looking into this ridiculous case at work. These idiots dressed up in these ridiculous costumes and broke into the art museum; their excuse was that they were trying to hunt down a thief, but no one was there besides them."

Snake mirrored Douglas' action of taking a drink. "What the hell?" He scoffed. "If they knew there was a thief, why didn't they just report it? And why wear costumes? The story doesn't add up."

"You're right, it doesn't add up." The seriousness that found its way into Douglas' voice caused the other man to raise his eyebrows in surprise. "We thought they were drunk at first, and interrogated them, but they only said they didn't actually know there was going to be a thief; it was a lucky guess. No one really believes them, but there also just so happened to be an artifact missing from its exhibit when we caught those kids, and one of them just so happened to have a nasty enough wound on his arm that we had to send him to the hospital."

He leaned forward in his seat. "They were also completely sober when we caught them, but the rest of the officers keep thinking that they must have done something sneaky to pass the sobriety tests."

Douglas returned to the more relaxed position he previously had and sighed. "But I just can't get myself to believe that. I mean, maybe it would make sense, and the one guy who had the bleeding arm might have just cut it on accident, but you can't explain away why that artifact is missing."

"Did you search them?"

"Of course we did! I even got the warrant to check out their dorms. We couldn't find it anywhere and I have a very hard time believing those kids were good enough to slip it under our noses."

Snake hummed in thought. "That is weird." He began, downed the rest of his beer, then continued. "Maybe you should keep an eye on them; you could eventually find more information."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Even if the department closes the case, I'll keep 'em in the corner of my eye." Douglas nodded.

Snake looked down at his watch and stood up. "It's getting late," he said. "I should probably hit the road now, so I'll see you around." With a quick goodbye from Douglas, he strolled out of the bar.

Going down the road, the man thought over the information Douglas had given him, resisting the urge to pull out a cigarette. He'd wanted to quit smoking for some time now, but sometimes it was just too difficult to ignore the insistent nagging of his subconscious when it wanted a smoke. "Ah, screw it." He mumbled, putting one of the sticks between his teeth and lighting it. Tonight was going to be a bit different than the others, and Snake constituted that as enough of a reason to splurge.

Turning the corner of a street, he cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

Hopefully this wouldn't take too long.

* * *

Lucario knew what was coming before it struck. The pokémon turned around, its paw meeting a fist and stopping it in its tracks. To the naked eye, Lucario was touching nothing, but it knew better. It sensed this person's aura approaching it long before they decided to make a move.

They must have thought they had the advantage of stealth thanks to their invisibility, but Lucario was prepared.

Another fist came swinging, and it promptly ducked to avoid being slugged in the face. The pokémon jumped backwards, trying to put as much distance between it and the attacker, giving it an opening of about three seconds to form an aura sphere. Lucario did just that. But the limited amount of time it had to form the ball of energy made it small, and the person easily sidestepped when Lucario flung it in their direction.

For a moment, Lucario was confused as to why the sphere didn't hit its mark. The pokémon closed its eyes and concentrated, relying less on its normal vision and more on sensing the other's aura. It realized a second too late that the person had snuck up behind it, and a swift kick landed on Lucario's back.

It growled in pain, but was not defeated just yet. This pokémon prided itself on its strength, something it had earned without the help of a trainer. There was no way it was going to be taken down by some stranger, who more than likely just wanted to rob Lucario. That was strange, because Lucario wasn't carrying anything with it.

Whatever the cause was, it was not as important as what was going to happen because of it. The pokémon stepped back, paying more attention to the movements of the stranger before firing a slightly bigger aura sphere in their direction. It caught the person in the side, causing them to stumble backwards. They cursed in a deep voice as Lucario charged forwards, kicking them in the stomach and sending them further backwards.

The pokémon growled, a warning for the stranger to not get any closer, then made its fatal mistake. It turned its back on its attacker and continued down the street, confident that the person would not try to assault it again.

An invisible force wrapped itself around Lucario's neck, putting the pokémon in a chokehold and forcefully dragging it away.

* * *

"It feels like he's just been following us around, and it's starting to get a little creepy." Ness' muffled voice reached Toon Link, causing him to stop just outside the classroom door. Was Ness talking about him? "I mean, he never does or says anything, but he always insists on hanging around us when he can. It's weird."

The hylian's heart sank. They were talking about him. Toon Link had never thought it was weird that he never said anything, but apparently it was the reason he was now having such a hard time getting his friends back.

Instead of entering the classroom, he turned around and went the other way. The thought of going to class suddenly made Toon Link sick.

"I'm not saying that I want him to go away," Ness continued, but Toon Link was already too far away to hear him. "I just wish we could understand him better. I think it'd be nice if we were friends."

With nowhere else to go, Toon Link found himself hiding in a bathroom stall. The teachers would surely catch him if he lingered in the halls or cafeteria, and the nurse would not send him home without any physical ailments, but no one could force him out of here. However, that also meant he had nothing to do but sit on the toilet, and stare at the wall.

Hours passed. He tried to entertain himself by making up games in his head, but for the most part he spent his time contemplating what Ness had said.

Had Toon Link accidently been pushing away the very people he'd been trying to make friends with, all because he didn't like to talk? Sure, he was physically capable of doing so, but that didn't mean he was comfortable with it. Anxiousness twisted his stomach at the thought of choosing between his friends and his comfort zone.

The door opened, two pairs of footsteps clicking against the tiles. "I wish everyone else would see how awful they are," a voice sounded, and Toon Link recognized it as the kid who pulled him aside the other day. Two separate stalls clicked shut, then reopened after a few moments.

"I know, right?" A different voice, presumably the guy's friend, commented over the sound of the sinks running. "The only reason they're popular is because they show off all their dumb powers and people think it's just so cool. Well, I think they're freaks!"

"Exactly! I bet they brag so much because they're afraid of being bullied. It's pretty sad they're not confident enough to be themselves without putting other people down first."

Toon Link was so confused. In the past few days he'd spent around the others, none of them seemed as how those two described them. He had hardly heard talk of superpowers in casual conversation, and he could not recall there ever being a time in which one of them had put down another kid. Did people really think they were bullies?

Ness' words from that morning came back to haunt Toon Link. Were those kids wrong, and just jealous, or was Toon Link wrong, too oblivious to notice anything awful going on?

A bell rang, and he jumped both in surprise and at an idea he regretted not thinking of earlier. Perhaps he could use the passing period crowd as camouflage and sneak out the door? The hylian stood up, stretching his sore legs, and exited the stall. As he did, another person came into the bathroom.

"Huh? Link?" Lucas said. "We were wondering where you went, you weren't at lunch today and Ness said you weren't in class either. Are you feeling sick or something?"

Toon Link froze. Lucas was one of the last people he wanted to be caught by. He almost shook his head, but stopped himself. Ness had said it was weird that he didn't speak. Perhaps if he tried to, he could prove that he wasn't trying to be creepy. "No." The hylian forced the word out of his mouth, and Lucas' eyes widened in surprise.

"You can talk?" Toon Link nodded, still not completely comfortable with using words. "Then, if you don't mind me asking, why haven't you said anything until now?"

He shrugged. It was a vague gesture, and he felt like he should have explained himself, but just saying that one word already felt like more than enough for him. Thankfully, Lucas got the message.

"So, do you just not like to?" He guessed. Toon Link gave him another nod. "That's alright then, you don't have to talk if you don't want to." Relief washed over the hylian, but with it came more confusion.

"I heard Ness say that I was creepy and weird." Once more, he spoke up. It left him feeling very unsettled, but Toon Link didn't quite know how else to get his message across. "Because I don't say anything and follow you guys around." His voice was starting to shake from the nervousness. The boy took deep breaths after his speech, hoping that was the last thing he'd have to say for a long time.

"Oh." Realization hit Lucas like a truck. He looked down, suddenly very interested in the tiled floor. A light blush of embarrassment covered his cheeks. "Did he really say that? Geez," Lucas stumbled over the words, trying to find the right ones to say. "You're not creepy, and you're not weird. It's just, I think it's our fault. We haven't really tried very hard to get to know you better, so when you come up to us, we don't really know what to do or what to say to you. I'm sorry, Link."

The hylian's eyebrows rose. He had assumed he was the one who wasn't trying very hard to communicate, but now Lucas was placing the blame on himself and his friends? The nervousness that had been eating at Toon Link withered away. Perhaps no one had been trying very hard to communicate; but now that both sides recognized the problem, they could fix it.

Lucas continued. "I think it'd be really nice if we could be friends, and I'm sure the others feel the same way, too." A pause. "Hey, do you have anything to do after school? We were gonna go get some ice cream, would you like to come with us?" Toon Link was beaming as he accepted the offer, leaving the bathroom to let Lucas do his business in peace. Having to sit through his last period of the day would be a drag, but the hylian was now too excited to care.

* * *

 _Shout out to all those popular kids who were genuinely nice but I hated them in middle school anyways because I was so focused on stereotypes and being "not like the other girls," lol. Also double shout out to Twilight Joltik for informing me that Ike does, in fact, have a coat of arms. I guess I didn't do my Fire Emblem research right, because I could not find that darned symbol by the time I published Chapter 2. No need to worry though, it's not vital to the story or anything. Thank you for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

Today was a surprisingly good day for Ike. Not because the day itself was anything spectacular; he still went through the daily routine of waking up and going to class; but he had woken up this morning and found he'd aced his pre-calculus test. It had been something he dedicated the past week to studying for, and seeing his efforts pay off put a skip in his step.

Now, on his way back from a grocery run that afternoon, Ike froze. For a split second, he could have sworn he heard the sound of someone screaming. Curious, he tried to follow the direction the noise had come from, rounding a corner and almost missing the skirmish happening in the alleyway. The sight was quite unusual; what appeared to be a mutant koopa was going after another boy, this one with fluffy white wings on his back. The smaller of the two was frantically trying to keep his distance as the other charged at him, claws outstretched.

Ike cursed his distraction; now wasn't the time to be standing and gawking, that kid needed help! He dropped his grocery bags and rushed towards the boy, pushing him out of the way as the koopa's claws scratched against his arm, ripping his shirt and drawing a bit of blood.

The koopa growled in frustration, now turning its full attention on Ike. He barely had any time to react as the beast opened its mouth, fire blooming in the back of its throat and rushing towards his face. The bluenette cursed, throwing his arms up to block his face. The earth followed his movements; concrete cracking as the ground rose to create a makeshift shield in front of Ike. It worked, as all he could feel was the temperature rise. No flames licked at his skin, and the beast roared in anger. It slashed against the wall of dirt, ripping it apart with sharp claws.

Ike flinched, waiting for them to slice against his skin, but the blow never came. Instead, an arrow flew towards the creature. Though the tip was blunt and it harmlessly bounced off the scales, it caused the monster to turn its attention back to the boy Ike was trying to rescue. Why hadn't he run away yet?

Again, it charged towards the kid, and Ike took the opportunity to run up behind it and swing his leg out. His foot collided with one of the spikes decorating its shell, and the force was enough to knock it onto its back. The monster grumbled, flailing its limbs in an attempt to flip back onto its feet.

It wasn't having much luck, and Ike didn't want to wait around to see how long it would take the creature to right itself again. Instead, he took the boy by the arm, stopped to pick up his groceries, and ran.

They didn't stop until they were a couple of blocks away from the fight, the younger of the two panting for breath.

"Thanks for helping me back there," he huffed. "I thought I was a goner!"

Ike nodded, accepting the gratitude, but his face hardened. "What the hell was that thing and what did it want with you?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I'd never seen it before until just now," the kid shrugged. "At first I thought it was just trying to, like, mug me or something, but it wouldn't leave me alone! Oh goodness, what if it was trying to abduct me?" Ike could see him visibly shudder at that thought.

"Don't worry, you should be safe now. But you shouldn't have stuck around when you had the chance to run, and you probably shouldn't have been in that alleyway either. Try to be more careful next time."

With that, the older of the two turned to head back to his dorm. He only took a few steps when the boy spoke up again. "Wait!" Ike stopped, turning around to look at him again. "Would you mind walking me home? What if it comes back?"

He seriously doubted that monster would come back, especially since it was still daylight and there were other people around, but Ike also did not want to eat his words and have something horrible happen. After all, he had been the only one to step in during the first attack, so there was no guarantee that someone else would if a second one occurred.

"Alright." He said, watching as the other perked up.

"Thank you!" The brunette said, starting off in what Ike assumed was the direction of his home. He followed. "My name's Pit, by the way, what's yours?"

"Ike."

Pit looked like he wanted to say something, but Ike's short answer gave him little to work with. They continued their trek for a few silent minutes, before the bluenette's eyes wandered to the bow and container of arrows Pit was carrying. The arrows looked identical to the one back in the alleyway, and Ike assumed Pit must've been the one who shot it. "You do archery?" He asked.

"Yeah!" The brunette smiled. "I'm a pretty good shot, too. It didn't help much back there, though. I guess these practice arrows are too blunt. Sorry."

"You really should have just gotten away when you had the chance." Ike shrugged. He didn't mean to be so harsh on the kid, but he figured that if no one told him of his mistakes, Pit would keep making them, and put himself at risk again in the future.

The boy in question pouted. "But you were still in danger; I couldn't just leave you, especially when you stepped in to help me!" he said, and Ike quietly grumbled in response. He had no real argument to make against Pit's thought process, but he still couldn't get himself to agree with it.

Silence fell over them once more, but it only lasted a few moments, as Pit spoke up once more. "I saw the way the ground moved to block you earlier. Was that you who did that? Does that mean you have powers?"

Ike nodded. "Yeah, do you?" He said, looking at the fluffy white wings sticking out of Pit's shoulders.

"Sure do! Why do you think I have these?" Pit ruffled his feathers for emphasis. Ike had never really seen someone have a mutation for a superpower, but he supposed there was no other logical way to explain it. "It kind of stinks, though, I can't fly with them. They're just there."

The older hummed in response, unsure of what to say. Pit was right, that did stink. It sounded to him like having wings that couldn't fly would be more trouble than it was worth, but at the same time he didn't want to accidentally insult the other. It wasn't like the brunette chose to have them.

They rounded a corner, office buildings and stores giving way to a small neighborhood. A few houses went by before Pit walked up the sidewalk of one with a slightly unkempt lawn and a white car in the driveway.

"Thanks again for everything, Ike!" Pit said, digging out a house key from his pocket. Before the boy could use it, the door swung open, and a rather youthful, green-haired woman stood in the entrance.

"Welcome home!" She smiled, moving out of the way so Pit could walk inside. Looking up, she noticed Ike standing a few feet back. "Oh, who's your friend?"

The boy unceremoniously dropped his bag by the front door. "That's Ike. I ran into some trouble on the way home, and he helped me out! Ike, this is my mom!"

The man in question was starting to feel a little awkward. He hadn't planned on sticking around for so long, but now he was trapped under the scrutinized gaze of a stranger. "Your kid nearly got abducted," he blurted.

The mother's eyes widened as she looked to Pit for confirmation. The brunette nodded his head, and she turned back to him. "My goodness," she said, and Ike couldn't help but notice how well she was in control of her shock. He could still hear her voice waver, but her calm demeanor stayed relatively unaffected. "I can't thank you enough to helping him, then. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't. Is there any way I can repay you?"

Ike shrugged. He didn't really feel like he needed a reward. "Don't worry about it."

But the woman didn't look happy at the idea of taking no for an answer, frowning and scrunching her eyebrows in thought. "I know!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Why don't you stay over for dinner?"

He paused. For someone who had been eating dorm food for quite some time, the thought of a home cooked meal (even if it was made by people he hardly knew) sounded very appealing; especially if it was free. What was the worst that would happen if he accepted? "Okay."

"Great!" She smiled, then held the door open so Ike could step inside. "I'm making my famous vegetable surprise tonight, I hope you like it!"

The bluenette had to admit, vegetables were not his favorite, but he couldn't help but wonder what he had just gotten himself into as Pit's face suddenly paled.

* * *

Disappointment settled into the bottom of Peach's stomach. It was almost always a tragedy when she passed through the produce section and saw the products looking a little less than in good condition. This store in particular did an absolutely terrible job with caring for the herb plants on sale, and by the abundance of them still on display, Peach was sure she wasn't the only one who noticed.

But unlike other people, she was someone who could do something about it. The blonde looked around, checking to make sure no one was watching, then tapped her fingers against a wilting basil plant. It immediately responded, the leaves springing back to life and the entire thing turning a much healthier shade of green. Satisfied with her work, Peach turned to a batch of rosemary.

"That doesn't look like a very good business practice," a voice sounded. Peach squeaked in surprise, pulling her fingers away from the rosemary as a light blush covered her cheeks. She looked up; the source of the voice was that of a rather tall hylian girl, brown hair framing the small smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, you caught me," Peach put her arms behind her back, as if she was a child scolded for sneaking dessert before dinner. What she was doing wasn't exactly illegal, but she supposed the girl was right. Her powers worked more as a 'pick-me-up' than a permanent fix for unhealthy plants, and were certainly no substitute for giving them proper care. If someone bought any plant that received her help and then neglected to take care of it, the plant would eventually degrade into an even worse condition than the original wilted state. "They just looked so sad, I couldn't help myself."

The brunette girl laughed. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Peach sighed in relief. Footsteps sounded behind her, and the girl's eyes widened ever so slightly. The blonde turned around, seeing Lucina place a bag of lemons in the shopping cart. She looked up afterwards, making eye contact with the hylian. There was an awkward pause.

"Ah, sorry," the brunette started, embarrassed that she had been caught staring. "You just look so much like this one guy in my history class, it caught me off guard."

Peach didn't know if anyone else noticed, but Lucina flinched. "Really? That's weird." She commented.

"Yeah," the girl scratched at the side of her head. "I guess you wouldn't know him. I think his name is like, Marth, or something."

Lucina was quick to deny that she knew anyone named Marth, and their conversation ended there. Peach and Lucina continued on their route through the store, while the hylian girl went her own separate way.

The blonde was starting to get suspicious. When the trio of time travelers first confronted her in her shop, Peach wouldn't deny that she'd been skeptical. Regardless, she'd invited them to live with her and Olimar, but only partly out of the kindness of her heart. Peach wanted to keep a close eye on them in case they tried anything funny, and what better way was there than to have them under their watch? Of course, they'd proven themselves trustworthy over the course of their stay, and Peach was starting to enjoy having the three live with them, but Lucina's attitude towards the strange hylian girl was not something she could ignore.

A few aisles later, Peach stopped the cart and looked to Lucina. "Okay, what was that all about?"

The bluenette looked surprised. "What?"

"That whole thing with that girl earlier. When she asked you about her classmate, I could tell you were feigning ignorance."

"Was it that obvious?" Lucina cringed, looking at the floor. No, she hadn't been that obvious, Peach was just observant, but the blonde nodded her head anyways, urging Lucina for an explanation. "It's a long story, but that girl's name is Zelda. She's one of the people we told you about."

Peach suspected that wasn't the only reason Lucina acted the way she had, and that her "long story" had much to do with it, but she still went along with the slight change of subject. She'd just have to bug the girl about it later, when they were in private. "She was? Why didn't you say anything?"

Lucina shrugged. "I don't think she would've believed me if I did." Peach shook her head. That was a poor excuse; after all, they had been quite blunt when they approached her and Olimar. It sounded more like the girl was just being shy.

"With that attitude, we're going to have a tough time accomplishing what you three came here for. There's no way to tell people what you know without it being awkward or unbelievable, so you've just gotta bite the bullet." Peach scolded, sighing at the end of her sentence. "The next time you see someone like that, let me know. If you don't have the guts to say something, I will."

Lucina nodded, hanging her head in shame. It made Peach feel a little guilty that she'd been so stern with the bluenette, but she still felt it was necessary to get her message across. The blonde started pushing the cart once more. "Come on, we only need to grab a few more things," she said, pulling a box of cereal off the shelf.

* * *

"I'm gettin' real sick of this!" Robin cringed as Bowser slammed open the door. His face was twisted with rage as he stomped across the carpet and took a seat in what he claimed as his own armchair. Personally, Robin didn't understand why Bowser would come into the study to vent his anger when it was supposed to be a place of peace and quiet, but now wasn't quite the time to comment on that.

They closed their laptop and turned to Bowser. Robin wasn't quite interested in what the koopa was so angry about, but they figured he would more than likely get angrier that Robin didn't care, and proceed to tell them whatever it was anyways. "What's the problem?"

A low growl rumbled in his throat. "Every time I try to nab someone new, something always gets in the way!" He practically shouted. Robin couldn't say they were very upset about that. "It's been happening all the time with Peach. You know I've wanted to get her for the longest time, right?" They nodded. "But she's practically never alone these days, so there's never a good time I can catch her off guard!"

"Maybe she's caught on," Robin shrugged. It wasn't too far-fetched; after all, Bowser was terrible at stalking people. Stealth was not something that came naturally to him.

The koopa in question huffed, small traces of steam curling from his breath. "There's no way, we've hardly done anything to gain public attention, so how could she possibly know anything? Besides, it's not just her. There's this kid I've also kept an eye on, and today the little idiot decided to try a shortcut down an alleyway on his way home. So naturally I'm thinking, 'Perfect! Here's my chance!'"

Robin raised an eyebrow, but Bowser paid little mind as he continued his tirade. "Then this buff guy comes out of nowhere and steps in like he's picking a fight! The worst part is, he managed to flip me over onto my shell, and by the time I got back on my feet, they were gone! It was humiliating!"

Robin tried to hold back a snicker at the thought of Bowser wildly flailing his limbs around in order to flip himself off of his shell. They opened their mouth, about to say something, but paused when the door opened for the second time.

"Ganondorf." Robin nodded their head in acknowledgement. The man grunted, looking between the two already in the room.

His eyes settled back to Robin. "How's your research coming along?"

"Well, I'm working on it, if that's what you're asking," they shrugged. Ganondorf didn't look very pleased with their answer.

He gestured to an old clay tablet that rested on Robin's desk. "What about that thing? Has it helped you any?"

They nodded, though it was a half-lie. Perhaps if they were more inclined to study it further, the object would help with Robin's research. However, before it was a display at the local art museum, it had been one of the few artifacts that people had managed to bring out of the Crata ruins. There was a reason hardly anything was known about that place. All investigations done of that area ended with some form of bad luck or tragedy, and Robin, like the rest of the scientific community, was not afraid to admit that they took these superstitions very seriously. Even if Lucario already checked its aura, and nothing was legitimately unusual about it, the tablet still seemed to radiate an energy that left Robin unsettled.

"Hey, Ganondorf, I need to talk to you for a second," Bowser cut in, getting up from his seat and heading towards the door. The man grunted, shutting the door behind the two of them, and left Robin in silence once again. They shrugged it off, figuring Bowser just wanted to have another person to express his earlier grievances to.

* * *

Ike was forever thankful that they'd gone out for dinner instead of staying in that night. Pit's mom, who had introduced herself as Palutena, had somehow managed to screw up her vegetable surprise so badly that she took the oven down with it. At first, Ike had felt rather guilty about it. Here they were, treating him to an expensive meal at a rather fancy restaurant, when they would eventually have to find the money to fix their oven.

Of course, Pit was quick to rectify the situation, explaining that they were actually very rich, and they could afford to be a little frivolous if the situation called for it. This made Ike wonder why they chose to stay in such their smaller house when they could've been living in a bigger one, but the bluenette didn't really think it would be polite to ask. Instead, he enjoyed the meal they were willing to pay for and made sure to show his gratitude. No matter how wealthy these two were, Ike was still surprised they were willing to be so generous to someone they'd only known for a couple of hours.

Overall, the dinner was very enjoyable. Not only was the steak Ike ordered cooked to perfection, but the two he was with were very pleasant company. Pit was quite talkative, and had a great sense of humor that never left the table in an awkward silence. Palutena was also very friendly, quick to make small talk that gave both parties the opportunity to learn more about each other.

That night, as Ike gathered his things and was prepared to take his leave, Palutena stopped him at the door.

"Thank you again, for what you did today." She said, but Ike only shook his head.

"It was nothing, really. I should be the one thanking you for this evening."

"You've already thanked us enough" Palutena giggled. "Actually, if you don't mind, there's one more thing I'd like to ask you."

Ike raised an eyebrow. He didn't think Palutena was the type of person to suddenly try anything suspicious, but the sudden request threw him off guard. "What is it?"

"Pit's taken quite a liking to you, and I can certainly see why. You're a nice kid, a good role model, and it's not every day we meet someone else who has superpowers. I think it's really great that you two made friends with each other." She paused, examining Ike's expression. While he certainly wouldn't call himself a good role model (especially concerning the trouble he'd gotten himself into recently), it was true that Pit and him had gotten along very well that night. "But, you see," Palutena continued. "He's been struggling a bit with his classes lately, so I was thinking about the possibility of you being interested in tutoring him? I'll pay you, of course."

Of all the things Ike was expecting, this was not it. The bluenette had never really thought of himself as someone smart enough to tutor somebody else, but here he was, the offer being thrown right at him. It was almost too good to be true; Ike really didn't mind the idea of helping the brunette with school, and he was pretty sure he could handle helping the other understand an eighth grade level curriculum.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "I mean, yeah, I'll tutor Pit, if you're alright with that."

"Of course I am! Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked." Palutena laughed once more, giving Ike a light pat on the back. "I'll call you sometime later to work out the details. It's getting late, so you should probably get back to your dorm soon. Want me to drive you?"

The bluenette shook his head. "That's alright, the walk isn't too bad. I'll be fine. Thank you anyways; I guess I'll see you later." He stepped out the front door, making his way down the steps.

Palutena stood by the front door, waving as he left. "Alright, then. It was nice meeting you, Ike!" She called after him before gently shutting the door.

As he made his way through the streets, Ike couldn't help but think about how lucky he had been. Who knew he would have gotten along so well with the kid he had helped earlier that day? Now, not only had he gotten a free meal that night, he'd landed himself a part time job and met two incredibly nice people. This day really had been a good one.

* * *

 _This chapter was not fun to edit. I still don't know if it's exactly how I want it, but whatever. I already had to rewrite an entire section. This chapter should also answer the guest reviewer's first question. Of course, all other story related questions will be answered within the story. Formatting, however, is a different subject. I'll have to admit, I spend more time thinking about which sections go in which chapter than I do about their order; mostly because there are some chapters that have will have no sections with direct correspondence (and can go in any order), and some whose sections do correspond. I'll try to experiment with the order of the sections that do correspond; let me know what works better and what doesn't. Also wow I can't believe I wrote an AN this long. As always, thank you for reading!_


	5. Chapter 5

The second day Rock failed to show up for school, they decided to pay him a visit. Toon Link found himself walking along the city streets with his friends, curious about why his friends were so concerned. Wasn't it normal for students to miss some school every now and again?

"Rock has like, perfect attendance. He never skips unless it's something important, and even then it's not for more than a day. The last time he missed school was when Samus disappeared." Nana had explained, which left the hylian even more confused. How did Rock know Samus?

The girl must've seen his bewilderment clearly on his face, as she was quick to elaborate. "Oh, Samus is the lady who built Rock. So she's kind of like his mom, but we've never heard him actually call her that. She disappeared a little more than a month ago, though, and no one knows where she went. They're thinking it was a kidnapping."

Toon Link stiffly nodded, and their one-sided conversation ended. As far as the blonde knew, the Samus from his timeline had no children. But now, not only did she apparently have one in this timeline, but the hylian had just so happened to befriend him. What were the odds?

Eventually, their little group walked through a number of neighborhoods before making it to Rock's street. Toon Link followed as they passed by a few houses before arriving in front of the one they were looking for. It looked average enough, with a plain front lawn devoid of anything but grass and a single tree, a beaten up green minivan in the driveway, and a satellite on the roof.

They all marched up to the front door as Ness knocked. Only a few moments passed before a teenager opened the door. He was quite short, with dark hair and a very muscular frame, and Toon Link was surprised by his presence. The hylian didn't recognize him, and didn't remember his Samus saying anything about him. Who was he?

"Hi, Mac." Ness also looked a little thrown off by the teen's presence, but Mac didn't seem to mind.

The teen stepped aside to let everyone in the house. "Hey, you guys. Nice to see you. Come on in." Their group did just that, making their way into the living room and scattering among the couches and armchairs available. A rather old-looking robot wheeled into the living room, examining the house's new guests, and Toon Link was thankful to recognize it as an R.O.B. that was fully functioning. The robot whirred and clapped its hands together in an attempt to express joy for its new guests; after all, it was probably a lot harder for something like R.O.B to communicate with just body language or beeping.

Mac was the last one into the room, shutting the front door before joining them in the living room. Silence was quick to fall onto the room, but Ness was just as fast to break it. "Is Rock home? He hasn't shown up for school in a while, is he ok and everything?"

The teen frowned. "Rock's ok, but I guess he hasn't told you what happened." Toon Link couldn't tell if it was because the robot was uncomfortable or not, but R.O.B. had taken that moment to leave the room. The hylian had little time to ponder the reason before its presence was replaced with Rock and Pikachu, who had just entered through the hallway.

Pikachu, like R.O.B., was pleasantly surprised to see guests in the house, and was quick to nudge its way onto the couch while Rock took an empty seat elsewhere. "Did you guys all come just to see me?" The brunette asked, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, we were worried when you didn't show up for school. Mac just told us that something happened?" Popo said.

The robot nodded, his face solemn. "It's Shulk. He's gone."

Dread ripped its way through Toon Link. Granted, the blonde wasn't familiar with who Shulk was, either, but he feared that what had happened most certainly had to do with why he traveled to this time; after all, if they lived in the same household, they most certainly had to have a connection.

"Gone? You mean, like…" Lucas trailed off.

"He didn't come home from his last shift. He's not at the shop, and he won't answer his phone. It's been two days." Mac confirmed, the grip on his seat tightening.

"Did you call the police?" Popo piped up.

Rock and Mac only shook their heads. "I don't know, something about this just doesn't sit right with us. First Samus disappears, and now, a little over a month later, something happens to Shulk? It can't be a coincidence." Mac sighed. "And considering how helpful the police were the first time around, I guess we're not too excited at the idea of calling them in again."

A heavy silence fell over the room, nobody quite knowing what to do. R.O.B. wheeled back in, carrying a tray of water glasses. The robot made a circle around the room, offering the drinks as they thankfully took them. Toon Link sipped his own water thoughtfully, the hylian almost certain his suspicions were true. Mac was right; there was very little chance of these two disappearances being unfortunate coincidences.

If that was the case, then the blonde was concerned, both for his friends and the people who had already become victims. He had to do something, even if the only thing he could do was warn them of what was to come.

Toon Link stood up from his spot on the couch, careful to set his glass down on the floor before he screamed and slapped his hands on the table. It was an effective way to get everyone's attention, as they all jumped and looked at him, Pikachu even releasing a few sparks from its cheeks in surprise.

"Uh, Link?"

The hylian withdrew his hands from the table, mimicking the act of writing to get his message across. Mac stood, leaving the room and returning a few moments later to give Link the items he had requested. The blonde was quick to start scribbling his words down, leaving the room in more confused silence before handing the paper off to Lucas.

"Does Shulk have supernatural powers? He was probably abducted for them, and any one of us could be next!" His friend read aloud, his voice increasing in both volume and shock as he processed the words.

"What?" Mac stammered. "How'd you guess that he has powers?"

Toon Link didn't answer, instead urging Lucas to continue reading his note. "I'm from the future. In my time, people like us were captured for your abilities, and used as living weapons."

"Us?" Ness cut in. "You have powers too? Is that how you got here from the future?" Toon Link shrugged, unable to give a straight answer. To demonstrate, he pointed a finger at Ness, allowing a sudden gust of wind to blow in the boy's face, nearly knocking his cap off.

Nana crossed her arms. "If that's your power, it doesn't explain or prove that you time traveled here."

At this point, Toon Link reached out for the paper again. Lucas didn't hesitate to give it back to the boy as he started writing a more detailed explanation.

In the midst of his writing, Rock gripped the edge of his seat. "That part about the living weapons; is that what's going to happen to them? Shulk and Samus would never agree to something like that. There's no way." He mumbled.

Toon Link's frown deepened. The hylian wasn't sure if he had the heart to tell the robot that the way Shulk and Samus felt about their fates would do little to change their reality. He slashed out what he had started to write, re-wording his explanation before handing the paper back to Lucas.

"Maybe so, but where they are right now, they don't get to have a choice. I'm sorry, we couldn't come in time to help Samus, and Shulk wasn't in our timeline, so we didn't know he'd be involved. I really don't know why that is, maybe my friend Lucina might. She's the one with the time travel powers." Lucas finished reading, then shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"So then, if everything you're saying is true, what do we do about it?" Popo asked. Toon Link, instead of writing an answer, pulled his hat over his eyes and ducked under the coffee table, as if to mime "keep a low profile."

They understood the hylian's message, but Ness wasn't happy with it. "Okay, but can we really hide forever? You said you're from the future, do you also happen to know where they're keeping all the people they've abducted?" Toon Link nodded, and the other boy continued. "Then why don't we just go and rescue them?"

"Because," Nana cut in, "you tend to forget that we're only kids. There's only so much we can do, and this sounds like it's out of our league. If you really do know where they've taken these people, we need to warn the authorities."

"Yeah, because the police are really gonna believe this kind of story," Ness said, the sarcasm obvious in his tone. "I'm not saying we have to fight whoever's behind this, but I bet we could at least sneak into their hideout or whatever and try to help the people they've caught."

Nana wasn't deterred. "Well, maybe they won't believe us, but we should at least try on the off chance they do!"

"Wait a minute," Lucas cut in, halting their growing argument. "Shouldn't we be listening to Link here? He's the one that knows the most about all of this. If him and his friends haven't told the police or haven't tried to actively stop them yet, it's probably for a good reason. Right?" He said, looking to the hylian in question.

Toon Link slowly nodded. It was true; there was no way the police were ever going to believe a story as far-fetched as theirs. On the other hand, Lucina was adamantly against launching any kind of straightforward attack, and for good reason.

But now that he'd told his friends, and they seemed willing to help, would it be appropriate to go through with Ness' idea? They wouldn't actively be picking a fight, and they had strength in numbers.

Toon Link hummed in thought, reaching for the paper that had been abandoned on the coffee table. He wrote one last response, and handed it to Lucas.

"I'm not sure if a rescue mission is a good idea, but I'll talk to my friends about it. For now, just stay low and don't go outside at night."

* * *

"Something's not right here," Marth declared as he stepped into the dorm. Roy swung his chair around, tearing his eyes away from his laptop to look at his roommate. Similarly, Ike looked over from his spot on his bed.

Marth hastily unslung his backpack from his shoulder, dumping it next to Falchion's place in the closet. His roommates always thought it was weird that the bluenette had brought a family heirloom with him into a dorm, but at that point, that was the last thing on their minds.

"A lot of bad things have been happening recently, and it's weird," Marth started, crossing the room to take a seat in his own desk chair. "First, there was that whole bank robbery or whatever, then we just so happen to catch someone the night we broke into the art museum, and after that Ike meets Pit because the kid's being attacked, and today Meta Knight told me Lucario has gone missing."

Ike hummed, sliding off the bed and bending down to open their mini fridge. He grabbed a drink, closed the fridge door, then uncapped the lid. "Lucario? Really? There's no way," he shook his head, taking a sip. "Maybe it's just not talking with Meta Knight because it wants to be alone. I wouldn't be surprised." Ike knew all too well how overbearing his former mentor could be at times, and Lucario was already a fairly reserved pokémon; the idea that it would "disappear" for a while wasn't too far of a stretch.

Marth, however, was adamant. "But would it really go far enough to cut off all communication? Because that's what happened," the bluenette said, fingers tapping against his desk in thought. "I mean, I can't find any outright correlation between everything that's happened, but I just can't shake the feeling that something abnormal is going on."

"I can," Roy spoke up, his roommates looking at him in confusion. The redhead had been abnormally quiet during Marth's explanation, and the two were curious. "Find a correlation, I mean. Bank robbery aside, every other event has involved someone with superpowers, hasn't it?" He stood up, pacing the room in thought. "Lucario has its abnormally strong aura, Pit has those bird wings; Ike, you said the thing that attacked him wasn't normal either. And I don't know for sure, but I highly doubt that thief we found didn't have powers. I mean, there's no way an average guy could make a bite wound that ended up as deep as Link's."

Ike and Marth were silent, contemplating their friend's words. "Wait, you're right," Marth said. "We all know how rare it can be to find people like us; there's very little chance that this is all a coincidence."

Ike frowned. "Yeah, but we still don't know what it all means."

"We could try going out again tonight," Roy offered, stopping his pacing and going back to rest in his desk chair. "I mean, let's not break into any buildings this time. We can just walk around the streets, see if we find anything suspicious that could serve as a clue."

Marth's face remained impassive, but he still nodded. "Alright, but no superhero costumes this time. You still haven't replaced the curtains." After his agreement, the two of them looked to Ike for confirmation.

"This sounds like a huge waste of time, and I have an 8am tomorrow." Ike took a swig of his drink and smirked. "Count me in."

* * *

Perhaps his student was not yet suited to the task of being a superhero, but Meta Knight was more than capable. Of course, that particular term was only a loose definition; the batamon would never actually call himself such a thing. At first, he had scoffed at the idea when Marth came to the previous training session, full of complaints when his friend had gotten him into trouble with the authorities. The bluenette had received a good scolding from him for it, but other than that the topic was not brought up again.

When Lucario disappeared, the batamon started to get paranoid. He doubted there was a connection between the thief in the art museum and his friend, but Meta Knight knew for a fact that there had to be something else at play regarding Lucario. Even if the pokémon was one who spent a lot of time to itself, there was no way it would purposefully detach itself from any forms of communication. Furthermore, Lucario was strong; whoever had caused Meta Knight's friend to disappear was in no way an ordinary threat. The batamon feared that there was something sinister hiding among the city streets, and he did not want to wait until it was too late to find out what it was.

During the night, Meta Knight had taken to doing patrols around the city. But since the batamon hadn't been doing it for very long, he had only been able to stop the occasional mugging attempts.

Now, he sat perched on a rooftop, wearing his signature mask and cape. Of course, this was only so he could have a better view; Meta Knight would forever deny the notion that he did it to look cool. Nothing had happened for the night, and he was quite thankful for that, but the batamon's thoughts froze when he spotted movement from the corner of his eye.

Three figures were stalking through the alleyway, the darkness and distance making it difficult for Meta Knight to notice anything other than the fact that they were humanoid.

The batamon sprouted his bat wings, gliding down into the alleyway and blending in with the shadows. However, his presence did not go undetected. "I think I just saw something," one of them hissed, the sound throwing Meta Knight off guard. The voice sounded like he'd heard it before, but the batamon couldn't remember who it belonged to.

Regardless, one of the three figures was slowly approaching his hiding spot. When they were close enough, Meta Knight quickly unsheathed his sword and jumped from the shadows, only to have the tip of his sword met with the edge of another blade.

"Marth?"

"Meta Knight?"

"What are you doing here?" They both said at the same time. The other two figures were quick to come out of the shadows to stand beside Marth, and Meta Knight quickly identified them as Ike and Roy.

"What are you three doing sneaking around out here?" the batamon asked once again, more than prepared to give the three a scolding.

Marth rolled his eyes, sliding his sword back into the sheath around his belt. Roy huffed. "We could ask the same thing about you," he said, and Meta Knight realized the voice he'd heard before had belonged to the redhead.

He paused, choosing his words carefully. "I've been… investigating."

"You mean, about Lucario?" Marth asked, the batamon nodding in confirmation.

"That's why we're out here, too." Ike explained, crossing his arms. "Part of the reason, anyway. We've been noticing some weird stuff going on."

Meta Knight narrowed his eyes. Weird stuff?

"It's true," Roy piped up. "Like, a lot of bad stuff's been happening lately, and we wanted to see if we could catch anything suspicious tonight, like we did when we went into the art museum."

The batamon scoffed. "And risk getting yourselves arrested again, or worse? Your other friend already had to go to the hospital for his arm." Meta Knight shook his head. "All of you, go back to your dorm at once; it's too dangerous for you to be snooping around like this."

"No!" Marth grit his teeth. "I know you're worried, but we can take care of ourselves. I think we were all just caught off guard when we broke into the art museum, but I promise we know how to handle ourselves."

Meta Knight paused, taken aback at Marth's resistance to his request. Still, the batamon was too stubborn to concede so easily. He would not allow his student, ex-student, and their friend to be put in danger if there was something Meta Knight could do to stop it. "I nearly cut you open just now, Marth."

"But you didn't, because I stopped you." Marth insisted. "Besides, even if I hadn't stopped you, you still wouldn't have done it. I know you always go easy on people unless you know for a fact they've had formal training and can handle themselves in combat."

A heavy silence hung over them. Meta Knight took the time to finally re-sheath his own sword as he contemplated his options. It was obvious that even if the batamon escorted the three back to their dorm, they would just sneak out again.

"Fine, we'll split up and look around together." He sighed. "Ike, Roy, you can take the south side of town. Marth and I will look around the north. All of you, keep your cell phones on hand at all times."

Marth smiled, satisfied that he won the argument, as Ike nodded and began his walk to the south side of town, urging a now grumpy-looking Roy to come along. The redhead complied, and the two took off down the street. Meta Knight could only faintly hear Roy mumble, "Who made him the boss?"

* * *

When Shulk awoke, it took him a moment to realize he was not in his own bed. The homs shot up, eyes frantically scanning the room for anything familiar. To his dismay, he recognized nothing; the bedroom was completely plain and unidentifiable. The only pieces of furniture in the room included a chest of drawers, a desk with a complementary chair, and the bed Shulk was currently sitting on. The cream colored walls were bare of anything, including windows, which only increased the homs' sense of panic. Only two doors were present, one of them slightly ajar to reveal a small bathroom. The other one was closed.

Shulk sat for a moment, piecing together what had happened before he woke up in this place. He knew he had made it home from his last shift, and was walking up the driveway when he remembered something slamming into the back of his head. That must've been what knocked him out. The Homs reached up and brushed a hand through his hair, thankful that he felt no bandaging or signs of severe injury.

He slid his feet off the edge of the bed and stood up, curious to see that whoever had placed him in this room had also removed his shoes before putting him in bed. Regardless, he slipped the boots back on, making his way over to the closed door.

Before he could try to see if it was locked, the knob started to move on its own, and Shulk stepped back as the door swung open and a stranger stepped into the room. The man was particularly tall, with sharp features that unintentionally made him look intimidating. He carried no outright threatening expressions or body language, but the fact that he closed the door behind him and leaned against it told Shulk everything. There was no way the homs could escape from this room without going through this stranger first.

"I see you're awake now. How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Who are you, what is this place, and why am I here?" Shulk shot back; he was not interested in any kind of small talk this man had to offer.

The stranger, however, was not deterred by Shulk's attitude. "My name is Ganondorf." He explained. "You're here because I have a proposition for you."

The homs frowned; there was no way someone would go through all the trouble to knock him out and lock him in an unknown location just because they wanted to ask him something. Furthermore, the fact that Ganondorf was discreetly blocking the exit implied that Shulk wasn't actually going to be given the freedom to make his own decision.

"If my information is right, then you have the ability to see into the future. Quite a talent, if you ask me." Ganondorf said, undeterred by Shulk's wariness. The homs in question scowled; this was what he'd been kidnapped for? What did Ganondorf want, the winning lottery numbers? To predict the outcome of whatever kind of risk he was thinking of taking? The man was going to be severely disappointed when he found out Shulk's powers didn't work quite like that.

The blonde stayed silent, but Ganondorf continued. "You see, I'm part of a little organization. All of us here also have unique abilities, just like you. And I'm sure that if you joined us, you'd not only be welcomed with open arms, but you'd be a great help in achieving our goals."

Shulk raised an eyebrow, noting that the man had conveniently failed to elaborate on their "goals" as the pulled something out from his pocket and handed it to the homs. He wasn't inclined to take it, but Ganondorf had practically shoved the small case into his hands. Still, the blonde didn't bother opening it until the other man insisted he did.

The object inside confused Shulk. His eyesight was fine, why was he given a pair of glasses?

"We had these specifically made for you. The rim is made of a special material known as xenoite. We've found that whenever people like us make contact with it, it enhances our natural abilities. Perhaps if you wore those glasses, you could gain the ability to see further into the future, maybe even control when your visions occur and what you see in them. Quite beneficial, yes?" Ganondorf explained. "Consider it a gift from us."

The homs' eyes widened. He'd certainly heard of xenoite before, but never about its effects on those with powers. More often than not, he'd just heard about how rare the material was to obtain; it must have not been an easy or cheap task to get these glasses made.

Regardless, Shulk was not interested in bribery; especially if Ganondorf was not going to provide any details on what exactly he wanted the homs to do. He closed the lid on the glasses case and handed it back to Ganondorf. "Sorry, this is very generous of you, but I'm going to have to decline the offer to work for you."

The other man's stoic expression subtly twisted to show his irritation, and Shulk's stomach dropped. He pushed away Shulk's hands, leaving the glasses case with the homs. "You keep it. Like I said, it's a gift. It's too bad, though," the larger man sighed, tapping his foot against the carpet. "You're being quick to deny quite an opportunity, you know. Why don't you spend the night here and think a little more about it. I don't want you to make any rash decisions."

At this last words, Ganondorf turned around and left the room; an audible click from the other side of the door letting Shulk know that he was locked in here.

Still, the homs couldn't help but be thankful that the exchange could've gone a lot worse, but didn't. The other man had made no blatant move to harm him, and had remained quite civil when Shulk refused to cooperate.

The blonde sighed, placing the case on top of the dresser before settling back onto the bed. Ganondorf could not keep him locked in a room forever; but Shulk also couldn't see the man just letting him walk away unscathed any time soon. How many more times could he decline Ganondorf's offer until the man felt inclined to take drastic measures?

* * *

 _I've been hit with what I like to call the "fanfic curse": something happens to the author that's either really bad or starts to take up a lot of time, and the end result is that they become discouraged to continue writing. In my case, my laptop (whom I have now named Old Man Jenkins) finally broke down earlier this week. Of course, the thing's around seven years old so I'm not too surprised, but I was also dumb enough to not back up about 95% of the files I had on there- including my original writings for this chapter and chapter 6. I had to hastily re-write this one, and to my almost-dismay I've done minimal proofreading on this chapter because I'm getting impatient and I wanted this posted. It's kind of a shame; I was really happy with how the original chapter five turned out, but I guess that's in the past. Old Man Jenkins had his hard drive busted; there's very little chance of me getting that writing back; especially any time soon._

 _Thankfully, my discouragement has only been temporary; I'm not quitting this fic. In a ridiculously fortunate twist of events, my birthday is only about three weeks away, and my family was nice enough to gift me with the early present of a new laptop, which should arrive in a couple of days. My updates might slow down or chapters might be of lesser quality for a short period, however, because I'm gonna need some time to catch up to the pace I was originally keeping with this fic._

 _As always, thanks so much for your patience, taking the time to read this long AN, and for just reading this fic in general. Have a nice day!_


	6. Chapter 6

Unlike Toon Link and Lucina, Dark Pit had no success in finding anyone. Granted, his methods relied a bit more on luck than theirs. Toon Link had gone to school to meet with their young friends, while Lucina took to research based on the information they brought from their time. Dark Pit, meanwhile, simply took daily walks around the city in order to people-watch.

They weren't in the best of positions to waste their time like this, but at the same time the dark-haired boy could think of no better alternative method. Furthermore, he quite liked taking walks around the city. Living with Peach, Olimar, and everyone else was not unpleasant, but he couldn't help but feel like the place got too crowded for his liking. Taking these walks was a great way to satisfy his need for privacy, whilst at the same time being somewhat productive.

The boy had by now finished his morning walk, and made his way over to the nearby park. He settled beside the trunk of an old tree, unzipping his backpack and pulling out the packed lunch Peach had prepared for him.

Just as he opened his mouth to take the first bite of his sandwich, Dark Pit froze, feeling as if something was staring at him. The boy turned around to find that this was, in fact, the case.

If it were almost anyone else, Dark Pit would've been annoyed. But at that point, his negative feelings were pushed aside at the sight of Kirby, staring at both him and the sandwich in his hand.

Of course, Dark Pit didn't really think it was a good idea to launch into an explanation immediately; after all, Kirby didn't know who he was in this timeline. Instead, he cleared his throat, and tried to act natural.

"Uh, can I help you?" He started, and Kirby nodded. Unfortunately, the batamon didn't go into detail, leaving Dark Pit with no choice but to guess what it needed help with.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, already ripping his sandwich in half. Kirby thankfully took its half and gleefully shoved the piece into its mouth, but shook its head all the same.

Irritation started creeping its way into Dark Pit's emotions, but the boy didn't let it show; he didn't want to drive Kirby away. "Are you lost?" He guessed again, feeling relief when the batamon nodded.

The feeling was short lived, as Dark Pit sighed and packed his lunch away, slinging his backpack back over his shoulder. "I guess I'll help you out, then. Do you have any idea where you're supposed to be?"

Kirby hummed in thought, then squeaked as it pointed its stubby hand to the north. The batamon began to march in that direction, and Dark Pit was quick to follow. However, it soon became evident that Kirby was not very fast on its little legs, and the boy wasn't satisfied with their slow pace. He bent down and scooped the pink puffball into his arms. "It'll be faster this way." He explained.

Kirby was not at all uncomfortable with this action; to Dark Pit's surprise, the batamon seemed to be feeling the exact opposite. It squeaked once more before pointing in a different direction, and Dark Pit began to move once more.

Their walk continued for another fifteen minutes, following the same pattern. Kirby would occasionally stop, point in a new direction, and the boy would follow.

However, Dark Pit was getting more and more irritated on their lack of progress. It felt very much like they were moving in one big circle, and the dark-haired boy did not want to waste the rest of his day in this situation.

As he was about to open his mouth to express his impatience, Kirby suddenly squealed and wiggled in Dark Pit's grasp. He placed the batamon back on the ground, and followed it as it rushed to a group of kids standing near the edge of the street. Next to them was a large school bus, the entrance blocked off by a tall blonde woman, who was busy looking over a clipboard.

Dark Pit's eyes widened. It was enough of a surprise to find Kirby, but now Rosalina was here? Today was his lucky day.

"Ah, Kirby," the woman said. "Where have you been? We were just about to leave, I was getting worried." Her flat tone contradicted her words, but Dark Pit knew her well enough to realize she was being genuine.

He wasted no time in strolling up to her. "I helped him find his way back here," he declared, Rosalina's eyes widening as she looked to Kirby for confirmation. The batamon nodded vigorously.

"I see," Rosalina mumbled, then turned to look at Dark Pit once more. "Thank you very much for your help, then. If you hadn't brought Kirby back here, we would've had to search the whole park for it."

"Don't mention it," the dark-haired boy shrugged. "But, there is something I'd like to talk to you and Kirby about for a minute." He stole a glance at the group of kids, presumably the rest of Rosalina's students. "In private, if you don't mind." Their curious stares made the winged boy uncomfortable; it was probably for the better he didn't tell his story in front of a crowd of small children.

The blonde woman, however, frowned, her face twisted with confusion. "Ah, I'm sorry, I can't leave my class unattended," she started, stealing a glance at the silver watch on her wrist. "And we're already running a bit behind schedule as it is; I'm assuming this talk is going to take more than a few minutes."

Dark Pit wouldn't deny the fact that the response irritated him, but he pushed his emotions aside. Rosalina was being perfectly reasonable, and it would do no one any good if he got upset. "That's alright, it's not too urgent anyways," he lied. "But it is important that we talk soon. Why don't I give you my phone number, so you can call whenever you have the time."

"That would be lovely, thank you." Rosalina smiled, handing Dark Pit her clipboard and pen. The boy quickly scribbled down the number to Peach's flower shop before handing it back to the woman. He wasn't completely sure if she'd actually call it or was just being polite in this situation, but time would eventually tell.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later, then," Dark Pit said, turning around and walking back towards the center of the park; he still had a lunch to finish.

* * *

By the time Dark Pit returned home that afternoon, Peach and Olimar had already closed the shop. Worry bubbled in his gut; they weren't supposed to close for another hour or so, and the dark-haired boy feared the worst as he locked the door behind him and made his way up the stairs.

He was thankful to find everyone gathered around the living room, but anxiety still clawed at his insides upon sensing the tension in the room.

"Oh, Dark Pit, welcome back. How was your day?" Peach smiled.

"It was nice." He shrugged off his backpack and came to sit next to Toon Link, who was situated on the floor. "I met Kirby and Rosalina today. I tried to talk to them, but they didn't have time. I just gave Rosalina our phone number instead."

Toon Link smiled, Lucina raised an eyebrow, but neither said anything. "Oh," Olimar mumbled.

Peach was the most enthusiastic of the bunch. "That's great!" She clapped her hands together, her smile growing wider. Even if she didn't know exactly who the two were, Dark Pit's choice of words was enough of an implication. "I guess we should expect a call from her soon, then! In the mean time, care for some hot chocolate?" She offered, standing up and moving to the kitchen after Dark Pit nodded.

"Actually, we were just having a talk about this." Lucina coughed up.

"About Rosalina and Kirby?" the dark-haired boy questioned, gratefully accepting the mug Peach had returned with.

The blonde moved back to her seat as Dark Pit took a swig of his drink, flinching when the hot liquid burnt his tongue. "No, about our whole situation," Lucina continued. "Toon Link's told his friends about what's been happening, and they're thinking of launching a rescue mission."

Dark Pit remained silent, busy drinking his hot chocolate in smaller, less harmful sips. "In theory, it's not a bad idea," Peach offered, crossing her arms and leaning against the cushioning of her seat. "I mean, we'll probably have strength in numbers, and who's to say we'll even have to fight anyone if the goal is to bust people out of their little hideout?"

"Maybe," Olimar spoke up. "But keep in mind this 'strength in numbers' consists of primarily children. Even if they do have powers, are they strong enough to defend themselves when put in danger like this?"

Dark Pit still didn't say anything, instead observing everyone else in the room. Toon Link had his cheeks puffed out, as if he was frustrated. Perhaps he was thinking that yes, his friends could defend themselves; but that was when he knew them in their original timeline, and the blonde now had no idea how capable his friends were in this one.

For someone both Toon Link and Dark Pit looked to as the decision-maker, Lucina was uncharacteristically quiet. She kept her arms propped up on her knees as she leaned forward in her seat, chin resting in her palms as she thought.

"He's right," Dark Pit chipped in. "These kids do have powers, but so do the people we're up against. Say we do go through with this idea; we're gonna need experience and stealth, not raw power."

Peach pursed her lips, thinking over the two's argument. "Yes, but I think we still need to give it a shot while we still can," Lucina cut in, earning the stares of her peers; Dark Pit in particular. She was so determined not to make any direct approaches at the beginning, what changed her mind?

"According to Toon Link, someone else has been taken; someone who wasn't even involved in our timeline." The bluenette continued, as no one had said anything yet. "We know they're not gonna stop until they've captured everyone they're looking for, and, well, our methods for avoiding this outcome haven't been very efficient."

She paused, glancing around the room to gauge the others' emotions. "Plus, if there's people who are involved now who weren't in our timeline, they're going to be in the most danger. After all, we can't help them if we don't know who they are. We're not in the most ideal situation, but if we're going to try to stop them directly or at least slow them down, we need to do it now, while we still have the number advantage on our side."

Toon Link smiled triumphantly; it seemed the blonde had gotten the result he wanted from their discussion. Olimar just sighed in defeat. "I still can't shake the feeling something terrible is going to happen, though."

"But it's a risk we'll have to take," Peach shrugged. "After all, if we don't try, there's less of a risk of things going badly; but there's also a lot less room for us to improve our situation, yes?"

Olimar said nothing, as any responses were cut off by the shrill tone of their phone ringing throughout the house. Peach quickly stood from her seat, moving to snatch up the device and bringing it back into the living room. "Hello?" She answered.

"Ah, hello," the voice spoke, the even tone easily recognizable among Dark Pit, Toon Link, and Lucina. "I'm looking to speak with a boy I met today; did I perhaps get the wrong number?"

"No, no!" Peach was quick to respond. "He's right here. Hang on a sec," she paused, clicking a button on the phone. "Here, you're so speaker now so you can talk to all of us!"

"Oh, then, hello again." Rosalina's voice wavered ever so slightly, taken aback by Peach's spontaneous action.

"Hey," Dark Pit greeted, taking another sip of his now-cooled hot chocolate and grabbing the phone when Peach offered it to him.

Rosalina wasted little more time in the awkward small talk. "So, what is it that you wanted to tell me earlier today? I assume this involves whoever you're with, since I'm on the speaker."

"Yes, it does." Dark Pit began before launching into an explanation; how he, Lucina and Toon Link had arrived from the future, how they befriended Peach and Olimar, and the fate they wanted to stop from befalling her and Kirby. The rest of the group, sans Toon Link, would occasionally jump in with their own testimony, but Dark Pit remained the one to do the most explaining.

Rosalina stayed silent the entire time, most likely still absorbing all of the information the group had given her. "Are you still there?" The dark-haired boy asked. Perhaps the blonde woman had hung up long ago, and they were just now figuring it out.

A light hum of confirmation came from the phone's speakers. "This is a lot of information," she started, paused, then continued. "And I'm afraid you've got some things wrong."

"Huh?" Lucina blurted. How could they have possibly gotten their facts mixed up? They were the ones from the future; Rosalina wasn't.

"You see, I don't have any powers." She stated. "Based on your story, I don't think I'm in any immediate danger."

"So, you don't believe us?" Peach piped up, concern etched in her voice as she fiddled with her fingers in a nervous habit.

"If all I had was just your word for it, then no." Rosalina sighed, and her listeners' hearts sagged in defeat. "But, I think I have more proof that you might be right. You see, you were right about Kirby having powers, but there's also a friend of mine who does. Their name is Robin, and a few months ago it seemed they completely disappeared. It may not be too far of an assumption to think these people might have abducted them."

Lucina perked up. "Robin! Yes, we know about them, they were one of the first people who ended up missing. Though, by the time we got to this timeline, we were too late to prevent anything. I'm sorry, but I promise that so far we've been doing everything we can to stop all of this before it gets out of control."

"I see," Rosalina said. "It still seems far-fetched, but I suppose I can't deny that the facts line up. Don't worry, I'll believe your story."

"Thank you," Dark Pit sighed in relief. "But, the whole power mix-up is still weird. It's not the first time we've found something different about this time and ours." The dark-haired boy spared a glance at Olimar, one of the first anomalies they had encountered, before making eye contact with Lucina. The bluenette only shrugged; even if she was the time-traveler, it seemed she still had little idea of why this was happening, either.

"It's alright, but for now, I suppose there are more important things to worry about." Rosalina continued. "Really, I should be the one to thank the three of you; after all, you're the ones who've come all the way across time just to help those in danger." She gave a light chuckle. "For now, I can keep an extra eye on Kirby, but if there's anything else I can do, please let me know."

"Right. Thanks again, Ms. Rosalina."

"And have a good night!" Peach chipped in as they hung up.

* * *

"Hey."

Link jumped in his seat, looking up. Upon making eye contact with his friend, he relaxed his guard.

Zelda gave him a sheepish smile, pulling out the chair across from the table and taking a seat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said, pulling out a book and a journal from her backpack and setting them down. "How's your arm?"

The blonde smiled back, giving her a small thumbs up. True to his word, the soreness he'd been feeling in his arm had long since faded away, and his stitches would more or less be ready to come out by next week.

"I'm glad to see you're doing better," Zelda nodded, taking out a pencil and opening up her journal.

For a long while, they sat in comfortable silence, the only noise around them was the background sounds of the library and the occasional shuffling of papers.

Link was almost finished with his reading when Zelda decided to speak up once more. "Hey, Link." The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Is it true that you and your friends have been going out at night to look for suspicious activity?"

She had lowered her voice, which only confused Link. His friend was treating this fact like a rumor, but Link would openly admit to the odd habit of he and his friends.

"Because if it is," Zelda continued, "I want in."

Link's mouth dropped into a solid O-formation. His friend's proclamation had completely thrown him off-guard. Not necessarily because he thought it was too dangerous for her, but because he thought she didn't approve of such actions. Sneaking out at night over an idea with as much credibility as a conspiracy theory was extremely reckless, and he knew Zelda was certainly not the type of person to do reckless things.

Still, who was he to deny his friend? Link shrugged, then nodded. Zelda smiled, closing her journal and packing up the rest of her belongings. "Great," she said, "Then give me a call next time you guys go out, and I'll see you then."

She slung her backpack back over her shoulder, taking care to scoot her chair back in before taking her leave.

* * *

Despite having an entire household to look after, Samus never really considered herself a motherly person. It's not that she never tried, but smothering her kids with hugs, kisses, or "I love you"s was never really a habit she could grasp. Instead, her acts of love came through subtly, and she was always grateful that they understood and appreciated her for who she was.

However, as Robin relayed the details of their newest prisoner, Samus felt as if she was turning into the very definition of the "mother bear" idiom. Fists clenched, breath shortened, teeth gritted. Anger boiled dangerously in her chest, threatening to lash out at Robin, but she knew they were not to blame.

Instead, Samus turned around and bolted out of the room, rushing through the halls until she found who she was looking for.

Even if Ganondorf was a head taller than her, she didn't hesitate to grab a handful of his collar and yank him down so they were face-to-face. "You asshole!" She growled, thankful that she was no longer required to wear her power suit in the house; Samus now had free reign to punch him in the face, if she so pleased.

"Excuse me?" Ganondorf's face remained impassive.

"Where's Shulk?" Samus hissed. She didn't bother asking about what they'd done to him; she knew he was most likely receiving the same treatment she had gotten when she was first captured.

Her fists shook with anger. In the back of her mind, she had been aware of the danger. They were after people with powers; it was a very real possibility that Shulk and Pikachu were going to face the same fate as her. Perhaps even R.O.B and Rock were, too, if they considered robots to be a valuable resource.

Still, she hadn't expected it to happen so suddenly, and Samus inwardly cursed at her own helplessness and inability to stop it from happening.

"I'll take you to see him," Ganondorf offered, gently taking Samus' fist in his own and removing it from his collar. Now back to his full height, he turned around and started walking down the hall. The man seemed completely unperturbed by her rage, which only served to intensify her feelings.

Regardless, she drew in a shaky breath and followed him through the halls, making sure to memorize as much of the route as she could. Eventually, they stopped in front of a plain door, and Ganondorf withdrew a key from his pocket.

As soon as he unlocked the door and opened it, Samus marched into the room.

Upon looking up and seeing her, Shulk's eyes widened. His mouth dropped. "Samus?" He gasped as she approached him, taking a seat on his bed. She held a firm, but gentle grip on his shoulders as she inspected him for any injuries.

"Are you alright?" Samus asked as Ganondorf made his appearance in the doorway. He kept a respectful distance, but his stare still left the two slightly uncomfortable.

Shulk shook his head. "I'm fine. But, I don't understand," he sputtered. "Is this where you've been the entire time? Why didn't you ever call us, to tell us you were alright?" Shulk drew in another breath. "Are you actually working for these people?"

Samus was quiet, but eventually she spoke up. "Yes, and no," she sighed, sparing a glance at Ganondorf. She could barely make out the small smirk plastered on his face, and she now realized why he was smiling. He hadn't suddenly allowed her to see Shulk out of the kindness of his heart, or because her anger persuaded him; the man had brought her here because he needed someone to convince Shulk to join them.

And Samus had no choice but to do so, because if Shulk kept denying Ganondorf's offer, he'd only end up in the same situation as herself. Shame twisted her gut at the idea that she'd be doing exactly what that man wanted, but she was not going to see her son strapped into a power suit if she had anything to say about it.

"I'm just as trapped as you are," Samus said, refusing to make eye contact with Shulk. The homs swallowed thickly, waiting for her to continue. "This whole organization is shit," she glared at Ganondorf, "but we're in no situation to be defying anybody. You need to agree to work with them."

Her son remained silent, looking away from her. "I don't know if I can," she could hear the anxiousness in his voice. "I was never even told what it is I'm supposed to do, or what these people want. Why are you so afraid of them? What's the worst that's going to happen if I tell them no?" The homs redirected his gaze towards Ganondorf. "Are you going to kill me?"

The man only let out a light chuckle. "No. When we founded this organization, we made a promise to refrain from bringing severe harm to any members or potential members. I'm not breaking that promise." Shulk flinched at his last sentence, but Ganondorf paid little attention. He crossed the room, picking up the glasses Shulk had abandoned on the dresser to examine them.

"But of course, Samus is right. You aren't in any position to defy us." He continued. "If you continue to do so, we'll have to give you a power suit, like the one she has. Needless to say, it's not a pleasant experience."

Shulk's face dropped, his fists clenched. The homs could do nothing but come to terms with his helplessness. Samus tentatively grabbed one of his hands and gave it a light squeeze, as if to say, "I'm sorry."

"Of course, we only have so much xenoite with us," Ganondorf's mouth curved into a wicked smile. "It may be a waste to try and make another power suit." He turned the glasses over in his hand, humming in thought. "Perhaps we could find a way to modify these, and give them the same autopilot functions as the power suit. Of course, then we'd have to find a way to keep these glasses permanently attached."

The homs paled, looking between his mother and Ganondorf. "I... okay." He swallowed. "I understand your point. I'll work with you."

"Good." Ganondorf was still smiling, handing the glasses out to Shulk. "Now, how about giving these a try? I'd like to know what these visions of yours can tell me."

Samus could only watch as her son gently picked up the object, slowly slipping them on. His face slackened, eyes growing wide and glowing in an ethereal blue. The homs stayed still for a solid minute, and terror edged it's way into her heart. Shulk's visions usually never lasted this long.

Finally, he gasped, the blue glow fading from his eyes. Shulk was quick to remove the glasses once more, dropping them onto the bed.

"What did you see?" Ganondorf asked.

He didn't answer right away, taking a moment to gather himself. "I... there were seven people. One of them was some sort of, ah, it looked like a koopa? It was being attacked by the other five, and I think they were winning the fight."

"What did these people look like?" Ganondorf pressed.

"One of them was a batamon, for sure. I think two of them were hylian, and the other three were human." Shulk rubbed his temples, concentrating. Samus was honestly surprised that he'd managed to remember so many details so quickly; it must have been the xenoite. Her son often described visions as being dreamlike when watching them, but having opposite aftereffects. While people who dream usually remember details right after they wake up, then forgot once they spent a few minutes conscious, visions started blurry and only became more detailed when the event was close to happening.

Ganondorf nodded in understanding. "I see. Thank you, then." He turned around, heading for the door. "I'll keep the door unlocked now, and let you wander around the house. But don't think that means you have a greater chance of escaping. Welcome to our group." With that, he left.

The other two spent a few minutes in silence, before Samus decided to speak up again. "I'm so sorry, Shulk."

Her son shook his head. "It's not your fault." His voice still shook.

* * *

 _Sorry for the delayed update, but thank you for your patience, and thank you for reading!_


	7. Chapter 7

Tonight was the night.

Ness shivered from a combination of his nerves and the chilled autumn wind. The boy was quickly learning that talking about a rescue mission was much easier than actually executing one, but his determination didn't falter.

However, as they trekked through the woods, on their way to the alleged hideout of these mysterious kidnappers, Ness' mind was more pre-occupied with other subjects. For instance, the boy had been quite surprised at the people who were involved. Between him and his friends, the rest of Rock's family (minus R.O.B.), and Toon Link's group, they had quite the number of people. Even Red, a friend of Lucas' in the same class as Mac, had managed to convince them to let him come. Like Mac, he had no powers of his own, but Red was a licensed pokémon trainer, which most certainly counted for something.

There was also the fact that it was Halloween night. The hope was that the holiday would serve as some sort of distraction their group could use as an advantage, but Ness couldn't help but mourn his lost opportunity for trick-or-treating. Of course, helping others and trying to prevent a possible catastrophe was a bit more pressing of an issue. Ness would just have to ask his mother if they could buy some of the candy that always goes on sale the day after.

"You nervous?" A voice spoke up, and the boy turned his head to see Nana giving him a small smile.

Ness could only offer a shrug. "I'm okay, what about you?"

"I'll be alright," Nana laughed. "I'm certainly more nervous than you, though."

The psychic absentmindedly kicked at a rock, unsure of how to respond. It seemed no matter how hard he tried, the boy just couldn't get himself to feel that way. This wasn't the first time it had happened, either. Ness had long since realized he was the kind of person who never let anxiousness hit him until the very last moment.

"Hey," the boy spoke up once more, attempting to change the subject. "Am I the only one who's noticed that something's up with Dark Pit?"

"Huh?" Nana blinked, moving her gaze to further examine the one in question. "He seems fine to me."

Ness shook his head. "I don't mean that like, something's wrong with his attitude or anything, but I swear he looks just like that guy who's a grade above us- you know, the one with the wings?"

The girl paused, taking another look at Dark Pit. "Oh my goodness, you're right!" Nana's eyes widened in realization. "He's even got the same wings! I wonder if they know about this?"

The other boy pursed his lips. "Probably, it's way too freaky to be a coincidence."

Nana hummed in agreement, but the group's pace ground to a halt before the two could talk any further. It seemed they arrived at their destination, and Ness was quite surprised to see that the place they were looking for was nothing more than a large house.

Perhaps it was a bit fantastical to think that the hideout would resemble the villain's lairs of movies, but it didn't stop Ness from picturing it in such a way. Even so, if all they had to sneak into was a house, it seemed the boy's job would be a lot less harder than he thought it would be.

The group ducked back into the woods, out of sight from the house as they huddled among the bushes and grass.

"Alright, here's the plan," Lucina started, keeping her voice low. "Olimar, Pikachu, and Red's Squirtle are up first."

At her words, the trainer unhooked a pokéball from his belt. He paused for a minute, before taking off his over-shirt and using it to conceal the flash of light that resulted in the appearance of his water turtle. Slipping the shirt back on, he nodded for Lucina to continue.

"The three of you are pretty small, so sneaking in shouldn't be a problem. All we need is some reconnaissance. Break in, get a feel for the layout of the place, then sneak back out."

"What if we get caught?" Olimar whispered, unsuccessful at hiding his fearful demeanor.

Lucina paused. "Best case scenario, they won't catch you and think the pokémon are just wild. Worst case scenario, they catch you and Pikachu and Squirtle aren't around to help you escape."

Olimar gulped, but said nothing. A blonde woman, whom Ness identified as Peach in the dim lighting, gave the hocotatian a light pat on the back. "Don't worry," she said. "I know you can do this!"

"Anyways," Lucina continued. "Once you three come back, we'll start the second part. You kids," she gestured to the younger members of their group, and Ness' heart fluttered when he realized she had excluded him, "are going to be the distraction. Pretend you're trick-or-treaters, with Peach, Mac and I as your supervisors, and ring the doorbell. While they're busy with us, that gives Ness his chance."

It was the boy's turn to swallow nervously. "You have PK Teleport, yes? Use it to get as many prisoners out as you can." Lucina said, and he nodded in understanding.

If Ness hadn't felt anxious before, he sure as hell was now.

* * *

The first phase of the plan, as far as Ness knew, was completed with little difficulty. It took longer than expected, but eventually Olimar and the two pokémon returned to their makeshift hideaway in the woods.

"Sorry we took so long," the hocotatian huffed, out of breath from the run. "That place was not easy to sneak into, and we had to be really careful."

"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad you all made it out alright," Peach smiled, her comment earning murmurs of agreement among the group. "Did you get a good look at the inside?" She asked.

Pikachu squeaked in approval, and Dark Pit dug around in the backpack he was carrying. Taking out a pen and a notepad, he handed it to Olimar. The hocotatian understood what the dark-haired boy wanted of him, and he set to work on drawing a rough sketch of the house's interior.

Olimar was by no means an artist, but the group understood the many squares on the page to indicate different rooms. The small man used the pen to point to the first large box he drew, which housed a number of smaller boxes. "We didn't manage to get a whole scope of the place, it was just too dangerous," he started. "But from what we could see, the first floor doesn't have any bedrooms. Just things like the kitchen, living room, a study, and the like."

The hocotatian moved his pencil to the other large box on the paper. "The second floor, on the other hand, has a lot of closed off rooms. There's no windows here, either, so I think it's safe to bet that that's where they keep anyone who doesn't cooperate with them."

A few moments of silence passed, everyone processing this new information. "Alright then," Lucina spoke up. "Is everyone ready for the next part?"

The group exchanged nods, many of them standing up in preparation. Dark Pit once again reached into his backpack, pulling out a slick piece of metal and handing it to Ness. It looked quite like a piece of armor, but the boy hand no idea what it was supposed to do.

"This stuff's called xenoite; it enhances our powers. Lucina first used it to take us to this timeline, so it should give you the power you need to make multiple teleportation trips." He explained. Ness couldn't bring himself to give a verbal response, instead nodding and taking the piece of xenoite from Dark Pit. The boy was awed as he felt an unnatural jolt when the cool metal touched his skin, but he ignored the feeling for now, instead putting the object in his pocket.

"Alright, let's go," Lucina said. With that, a large portion of their group had left. Ness was now alone with Dark Pit, Pikachu, Olimar, and Red, whose Squirtle had long since been returned to its pokéball. Dark Pit had taken to spying on their group from a distance. Meanwhile, the psychic spent the next few moments frantically analyzing Olimar's crude drawing, as if it were the study material he needed to pass this metaphorical test.

The winged boy nudged him on the shoulder, jerking Ness out of his thoughts. The paper dropped from his hands. "They just knocked on the door, it's time to go!" He hissed. The psychic wordlessly stood up, pulling the xenoite from his pocket and shooting one last look at the group. Olimar smiled and nodded his head, while Red shot him a thumbs up.

* * *

"Trick or treat!" Their voices were almost in perfect unison as the front door opened. Lucas bit back his surprise when a large penguin, of all things, was the one standing before them.

To no one's surprise, though, it looked a bit disgruntled as it eyed all of them, scanning their faces, poorly-made costumes, and bags held in their hands.

"What are you kids doing trick or treating out here? The neighborhoods are that way!" The penguin frowned and pointed over their heads, in the direction of the way they came from.

"Oh, we know that, mister." Nana put on her largest smile, coating her voice in fake sweetness. "But what's Halloween without a little adventure or mystery?"

"That's right!" Popo continued for her. "I mean, even little babies can go trick-or-treating in the regular neighborhoods. But what's cooler than going to a house in the middle of the woods and doing it?"

The penguin's frown deepened, now looking at their three "chaperones". For a moment, Lucas feared that he was suspicious of the ulterior motive; but he had to remind himself to stay calm. The man couldn't prove anything if all of them played innocent. "Of course, we understand if you don't actually have any candy," Lucas chipped in. "We just thought it would be fun to try; we didn't actually expect someone to answer the door!"

The stranger's eyes shifted to gaze at Lucas, and the boy felt as if his heart would freeze.

* * *

Ness swallowed thickly, turning around and dashing off into the woods. At first, it was difficult to pick up speed with the many trees serving as obstacles. Eventually, he could feel his power start to flow, enhanced by the metal he was clutching in a death grip. His surroundings blurred into distorted colors, darkened by night. Ness concentrated hard on where he needed to be, and the blurry images became brighter as he shifted into a place with artificial lighting.

The boy slowed down, and eventually stopped running. Blinking a couple of times to reorient himself, Ness took off down the hallway he had teleported into, careful to be as soundless as he could.

But there were many doors in this place- which one was he supposed to get into? And hadn't Olimar said something about the doors being locked? Ness deepened his breaths- he couldn't afford to let his nerves get the best of him.

A low growl sounded, the boy whipping around to find himself face-to-face with someone. Ness inwardly sighed in relief. The trio of time travelers had described the appearances of the culprits behind the abductions, and the psychic was thankful to see this pokémon did not match any of the descriptions.

Before the creature could do anything else, Ness spoke up. "I'm here to bust you out." He hissed, causing the creature's eyes to widen in shock. "Quick, take my hand, I'll teleport you out of here!"

At first, the pokémon just stared at Ness' outstretched hand. The psychic could only mentally beg for it to make a decision, and quick. They only had so much time to lose!

Eventually, it placed a paw on his hand. Ness smiled, quick to get a tight grip on the creature's hand before he took off down the hall once more. His power surged through him again, helping the pokémon match it's speed with Ness', and in a flash the two of them found themselves back in the woods.

The group who had stayed behind all smiled in relief as the being Ness rescued looked around in shock. It was hard to tell, but the psychic thought it was smiling too.

"Quick," Dark Pit wasted little more time. "They're still at the door. Do you think you can make one more trip?"

The psychic shot them a quick smile, elated at his success, before taking off for the woods again. The pokémon's rescue had gone so smoothly- if he still had more time, then Ness surely wanted to make the most of it!

* * *

The penguin let out a hearty laugh, and Lucas tried his best to hide his silent breath of relief. "Oh, I get it! Aren't you kids the mischievous type! I don't know if we have any candy I'd want to give you though, let me go take a look real quick."

The psychic shifted uncomfortably in his spot as the stranger walked off. He left the front door open, but Lucas could not see anyone else inside the house from where he was standing. More importantly, what if the penguin accidentally caught Ness while it was on the search for candy?

Thankfully, it seemed this wasn't the case, as he returned a few moments later with an opened bag of wrapped up, bite-sized chocolate treats. "Here we go, I managed to find some." He shoved his rounded hand into the bag, bringing out a handful of the sweets and dropping one into each of their bags. "So what're your costumes supposed to be?"

"We're Ice Climbers!" Nana and Popo exclaimed in unison, each gesturing to their matching heavy coats.

"I'm a robot." Rock smiled as his friends tried to bite back any snicker or laughter. The penguin, on the other hand, did not pick up on the irony. Instead, he just nodded along.

Toon Link refrained from speaking, only gesturing to the eye-patch he wore. "Ah, you're a pirate?" The stranger guessed, the boy nodding and giving him a toothy grin.

Eyes turned to Lucas, and he froze once more. He'd hardly dressed up; instead wearing a simple yellow and red striped shirt and shorts. "I'm a bee," he blurted the first thing that came to mind. "I guess it's hard to tell, this was really last minute for me." Lucas laughed.

The penguin snorted. "Well, you tried. I'd give you an F, for effort. Happy Halloween, folks!"

The psychic cringed at the terrible joke, but hid it with a smile. "Thank you!" He chorused with his friends, walking back down the front porch.

As they left and the penguin was about to shut the door, Peach turned back to him. "Thank you very much, sir. Sorry for the trouble."

"Aw, don't worry about it, have a good one!" With that, he shut the door, leaving the group to hope that Ness could successfully make it out without their distraction.

As they walked back to their hiding place in the woods, Popo looked to Lucina. "Any idea who that was? He seemed pretty nice for a bad guy."

Peach laughed lightly. "I think most people are a bit too complicated for us to classify any one of them as just a hero or a villain."

"But still," Mac cut in. "He was awfully friendly for someone who's supposed to be hiding something. What's up with that?"

"His name's Dedede." Lucina jumped in with an explanation. "And we were definitely fortunate it was him who opened the door. I'd like to think his heart's in the right place sometimes, but he's still incredibly greedy, for the most part."

"Huh," Popo hummed in thought, pulling out the candy Dedede had given him and examining it. "Makes sense, he just gave us Almond Joys. Ugh, who even likes these?" He joked, scrunching up his face and sticking his tongue out in disgust.

Lucina looked back at him, an eyebrow raised. She failed to see the humor in Popo's words. "I do, actually."

The boy frowned, then shrugged. "I stand corrected. You can have mine if you want it, then."

The bluenette gratefully accepted, unwrapping the treat and taking a bite out of it. She shoved the wrapper into her pocket and deposited the last of the candy into her mouth as their group caught up with Red, Olimar, and the others left behind.

To their surprise, standing with their friends was a pokémon Lucas could identify as a lucario. "You're back!" Olimar sighed in relief. "How'd it go?"

"It was a little fun, actually!" Peach smiled. "The guy at the door ended up being very nice, and he didn't suspect a thing. How about over here? I see we have a new face in our midst!"

Lucario barked, nodding its head as it took the time to examine each of them. Dark Pit, however, frowned as he leaned his back against a tree. "Well, it was going great. Ness came back out with Lucario in a flash, but after that he went back in." He started. At the mention of his friend's name, Lucas looked around to see if he had come back, but his face quickly fell upon seeing him still gone. "He still hasn't come back out yet." The winged boy confirmed, pressing his lips together to mirror the tension he felt.

Lucas bit back a gasp, panic quick to settle in. They'd already left the house, and therefore they no longer had the advantage of a distraction. If Ness was still inside, he was in even more danger than before!

"Oh, no." Peach breathed, her eyes widened. "You don't think they caught him?"

"We have no way to know for sure," Lucina clenched her fists. At that moment, Lucario barked once more, pointing a paw further into the woods, away from the house. Lucas could see her draw in a shaky breath. "But you're right, Lucario. If they did catch him, they'll suspect something and come looking. And if we stick around, they're bound to find us. We have to get out of here."

"Wait!" The psychic finally spoke up. "We can't just leave him like this! What if he needs help?" Almost immediately, Lucas knew how futile his words would be. He could already see it wasn't an easy decision for Lucina to make. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that they didn't have very many options to choose from. And from looking at the faces of his friends, seeing a mixture of fear and uncertainty, he knew they were feeling the same way.

"Yeah? And what kind of help do you have in mind? We can't exactly go knocking on their door again to tell them we lost a kid." Dark Pit said. Lucas made no effort to reply, his gaze situated with the ground and his throat thick, sure signs that he was about to cry. The blonde was a bit embarassed to have been reduced to tears so easily, but Ness was his friend! They were just going to leave him behind, and deep down the psychic knew it was tactically the best choice to make; he just couldn't believe it was actually happening.

Toon Link shot Dark Pit a nasty look, and the dark-haired boy sighed, bending down to Lucas' height. "Look, if he's been caught, there's nothing we can do for him right now. But if he hasn't, he still has the xenoite, and he'll be smart enough to get himself to safety as soon as he can. We can't afford to stay here and wait until that happens, though. You just have to trust him to be strong. Okay?"

Lucas sniffed. "Okay," he sighed. Even if the winged boy was trying to encourage him, it left the blonde feeling a bit bitter; his crying didn't mean the other boy needed to baby him. Still, he trudged along with the others as they began to make their way through the woods and back into town.

During the walk, the psychic felt a hand come to rest on top of his head. The boy looked up at Red, who lightly ruffled his hair in an attempt to comfort him. In addition, the older of the two made no effort to use a weak smile to tell him it was going to be alright. Instead, the pokemon trainer made motions with his hands, his mouth set and brow furrowed in determination. _'This isn't the end,'_ he signed in encouragement.

* * *

The surroundings blurred around him once more as Ness made the trip back into the house. Finding himself in the same hallway as before, he crept through the area as soundlessly as he had previously done.

Something cold and sharp grabbed at his ankle. Ness stumbled, crashing onto the carpeted flooring. The boy whipped his head around, eyes widening in panic as his mouth dropped open in shock and terror.

The shadows on the walls were moving, one of them outstretched to latch onto his foot.

"That was a nice trick while it lasted, boy. But I'm afraid you won't be leaving this time."

Ness' heart jumped as he looked up, making eye contact with a man that could have easily been three times his size. His dark-colored skin and orange, curled hair gave the man away as one of the people Lucina had warned him about.

The boy tried to swallow his fear down, yanking his foot. However, not only did the shadows on his foot keep their cold, iron grip, but another crawled off the floor and clutched his arm and pulled, pinning him to the spot. The xenoite he'd had clutched to his hand dropped to the carpet with a dull thump.

He was about to scream, hoping his friends at the front door would hear him and take action, but yet another shadow flew off the wall and clamped his mouth shut. Ness' voice became nothing more than muffled cries as the man towered over him, watching him struggle with a stern, yet emotionless expression.

This was it. He'd taken the risk of breaking into the house a second time. Now, the psychic was going to pay the ultimate consequence.

Ness couldn't tell if it was a shadow or his own terror that was causing his vision to darken and his body to feel faint, but it hardly mattered anymore; the end result was the same.

* * *

 _I probably should've posted this when it was, y'know, Halloween... but I just wasn't ready yet. Instead, I'm posting it on the lovely Nov. 6- my birthday, hehe. Also, this is no guarantee, but I do expect updates to be picking up the pace again, if only slightly. Thanks for reading!_


	8. Chapter 8

"No way."

"What?" Pit whined, completely ignoring the schoolwork in front of him.

Ike sighed, rubbing at his temple. The mentor sincerely wished the other boy would accept no for an answer and drop the subject, but he knew by now that it was unlikely for Pit to do such a thing. "You heard me."

The brunette huffed, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout and pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Why not? It's a good idea and you know it, and it's not like I'll be in any actual danger!"

"It is absolutely not a good idea, and your mother would kill me if she found out." Ike shot back, unfazed by Pit's argument. Instead, he tried to turn his attention back to Pit's open copy of _To Kill A Mockingbird_ , skimming through the words on the page.

But the winged boy was just as stubborn as Ike; he made a point to turn around in his chair, facing away from his schoolwork and crossing his arms in defiance. "My mom doesn't have to know. I don't see what the big deal is!"

Ike groaned, dropping his gaze from the book to hold his face in his hands. He should have never told Pit about the patrols his friends and he went on at night. "The big deal is that your idea is too dangerous!" He said, dropping his hands back onto the table. "Look; maybe you think it'll be safe because we'll all be there to step in if something does happen, but you need to remember that none of us are invincible. Didn't I tell you how badly my friends and I had our asses handed to us the night at the museum? What if we run into someone like that again; someone we can't handle?"

Pit still refused to look at him. "But it was only three of you guys who got into trouble, since you just waited outside. This time around, your group is bigger! And if push comes to shove, I know how to defend myself too."

"Why are you so interested in acting as bait in the first place?" Ike gave an exasperated sigh.

"I want to help you and your friends catch these bad guys. You said you think it has something to do with our powers, so why not? I'd be a good target."

Ike was starting to get sick of this discussion. "We don't even know for sure if there are any bad guys, Pit." It was true; so far their nighttime walks had given he and his friends little results. Occasionally, they found themselves interfering with a robbery or assault, but nothing significant had happened to prove Marth and Roy's theory.

"Then what's the big idea with not letting me go?" Pit shot back.

"What's this about going somewhere?" A new voice chipped in. Palutena had entered the room to begin rummaging through the cabinets, more than likely in an attempt to start dinner.

Before Pit had the chance to dismiss the topic, Ike cut in. "Pit wants to come with my friends and I on our night patrols to act as bait, and I told him no."

The brunette glared at him, but the other boy inwardly reveled in his triumph; now that Palutena knew about Pit's plan, she surely wouldn't let him go through with it. Ike had long since learned that the boy practically never disobeyed her.

"Bait?" Palutena raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms in front of her. "That sounds incredibly dangerous."

"I can handle it!" Pit pouted, but Palutena was barely listening to the boy.

"No, no. Ike's right. I don't think you should go." She shook her head.

"Oh, come on!" Pit groaned, but finally dropped the subject afterwards, turning back around in his seat to face his schoolwork again.

Ike was thankful for that. "Alright, let's get back to this chapter." He said, gesturing to the long-forgotten book.

* * *

Going on patrol wasn't the best way to spend a Halloween night, but Meta Knight had insisted. Besides, it wasn't like Marth and his friends had anything better to do. They lamented the fact that they were a bit too old to go trick-or-treating, yet none of them seemed too keen on getting involved with the parties held by their classmates.

So Ike, Marth and Roy sat on a city corner, awaiting the arrival of the rest of their group. It was late enough that most kids had long since retired from trick-or-treating, but the streets were still held a bit more traffic as some adults lingered around town. Regardless, the three paid them little mind.

The soft sound of wings flapping guided their attention to the left, where Meta Knight approached. "It's good to see the three of you came," the batamon greeted, nodding its head in satisfaction.

"Yeah," Roy shrugged. "But why'd you insist we do this tonight? It's Halloween, don't you have, like, plans?"

"No," Meta Knight narrowed its eyes, which glowed an eerie yellow in the dark. "Other people certainly will, though, and this many people out at night could mean that there's a higher chance for crime."

Marth hummed in thought, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. His mentor had a point, but the bluenette figured the batamon was thinking backwards. While stopping petty theft and whatnot was all well and good, the whole point of their nightly patrols was to see if they could catch those who were possibly behind the theory they had concocted. And if those criminals had yet to show their faces on regular nights, why would they try anything on a night in which there were more people about, and therefore a higher chance of getting caught?

The bluenette snickered under his breath at the thought that perhaps Meta Knight just enjoyed their heroic antics.

More footsteps shook Marth out of his thoughts, as their last arrivals rounded the corner. He raised an eyebrow at the second person walking alongside Link, confused.

"Hey, Link. Who's this?" Roy greeted, cutting right to the chase.

The second person was dressed in rather tight, dark clothing; it was perfect for stealth, but Marth also couldn't help but think of the possibility of it being a Halloween costume. Regardless, the person pulled down the cowl that covered part of their face, introducing herself as a girl. "My name is Zelda, though you can call me Sheik while I'm dressed like this. I'm a friend of Link's, and I want to start helping you guys out."

Zelda? Marth knew he'd heard that name before, and after a moment of thinking he recalled a girl in his history class with the same name. However, was it even possible they were the same person? After all, the girl in his class had brown hair, blue eyes, and sharp features; this Zelda had yellow hair, red eyes and a more rounded face.

Ike raised an eyebrow. "Sheik? What, is that like your alter ego or something?"

"Yes, actually." Zelda replied flatly, unimpressed with Ike's attitude. "I figured that if we get caught by the police for something stupid again, they can't put it on my criminal record if they don't know who I actually am."

"Okay, but, like, can't the police just match your face with your ID or something? What's a costume gonna do?" Roy pointed out.

It was at that point that Zelda's face changed, her features slowly shifting as her hair and eyes changed color right before their eyes. Marth's own eyes widened in shock upon seeing the girl from his history class he had previously thought of. So his initial thought was right; they were the same person.

The girl smirked at their surprised looks before shifting her face back into that of her alter ego's and pulling the cowl back up. "Does that answer your question?"

Roy grinned widely. "Yeah, okay. That's so cool!" He laughed. "Makes me kinda wish we got into costume."

"I'm glad you've decided to help us, Sheik," Meta Knight interrupted, folding his cape around his small body. "But enough small talk, let's split into groups and get going."

"I call being with Sheik!" Roy said.

* * *

A soft grunt escaped Snake's lips as he finished his job dismantling the alarm system. Content with his work, the man walked back to the front of the store, where Bowser was waiting patiently. They had long since picked the lock to the door, and with Snake's task done they now had free reign of the place.

"It's all yours," Snake said, gesturing an arm to the inside.

"Thanks," Bowser gave a satisfied growl as he stomped into the jewelry store.

The other man said nothing as he followed behind the koopa. Admittedly, Snake could have found something better to do with a Halloween night than break into a store, but at the same time, he was never too interested in the holiday to begin with. Besides, when Bowser announced he planned to break into the store, Ganondorf had insisted that Snake tagged along. The man didn't really understand why, yet didn't really have a reason to argue.

"What do you even need out of here, anyways? If you wanted money we could've robbed a bank instead." Snake shrugged as he observed Bowser stalk through the display cases, eyeing the merchandise.

"I need to find a nice ring for when I ask Peach to marry me." The other replied bluntly.

Snake raised an eyebrow, and resisted the urge to laugh. "Whoa there, pal. You're not even gonna take her on a date first?" He joked.

Bowser, however, failed to see the humor. "Why waste my time? I already know we're soulmates."

The other man pressed his lips together and didn't say anything, leaving the koopa to focus on his search. For a moment, the man entertained the idea of being the good guy and educating Bowser on healthy relationships. However, the thought lasted little more than a few seconds, as he doubted the beast would even listen. Besides, those fantasies seemed so ridiculous to Snake anyways; he didn't expect to see Bowser get very far with such romantic endeavors.

Muffled noise reached his ears, and Snake jerked in his position, instinctively activating his power and becoming invisible to the plain eye.

He was just in time, as two strangers seemed to come out of nowhere and rush towards them. "Stop right there!" One of them shouted, his red hair easily distinguishable, despite the minimal lighting.

"Yeah? Or what?" Bowser snorted in amusement. The beast flexed its claws, as if to intimidate them, but the strategy failed to work on either of the two. Instead, the quieter of them pulled a needle out, the thin weapon gleaming dangerously, as the redhead held his palm out.

Snake was a bit taken aback as flames ignited in the stranger's outstretched hand, but he was careful to make no sound. The intruders had given no indication that they knew Snake was there, and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Bowser's voice was a mixture of growls and amusement. "That's a nice trick, kid, but fire doesn't work on me," he said, opening his mouth in preparation for his own fiery attack.

"Then how about water!"

Snake jerked in surprise for the second time that night as a blob of the aforementioned liquid streamed in from the outside, gliding through the air before smacking Bowser on his snout. Following it were two more people, one with blonde hair partially hidden by a floppy green hat; the other had a sword strapped to his belt and water that defied gravity and bubbled around his hands.

The koopa let out a ferocious roar, but was interuppted mid-screech by the redhead's jarring laughter. "Oh my god, that was simultaneously like the coolest and lamest thing I've ever heard you say!"

The sword wielder shot a glare at his laughing friend. "Roy, please! This is serious!"

The name clicked in Snake's head, bringing back the memory of a visit with Douglas at the bar; how he'd been told a group of teenagers had broken into an art museum, and the cop was responsible for their case. An itching suspicion told him these teens were the same people his friend had told him about.

Roy, as Snake now knew him as, tried to stifle his giggles, turning back to Bowser. "Okay, okay. So here's the thing; we're gonna take your butt to jail now."

The koopa, however, was furious. "I'd like to see you try, pipsqueaks!" The blue-haired male drew his sword at Bowser's words, holding it with practiced ease. Snake's eyes shifted warily between him and the one holding the needle; both of them seemed the most dangerous, and he had to determine which of the two to go after once a fight broke out.

"Wait." The one with the needle spoke, making no move to attack Bowser. Instead, she held out her arm in front of Roy, to prevent her own group from instigating anything. "Let's try a different approach. How about this; we'll ask you some questions, you tell us what we want to know, and we'll leave you free to continue whatever it was you were doing in here."

"Seriously? We can't just let him walk away, he's stealing!" Roy argued back, the one in the floppy green hat nodding in agreement with him.

"Perhaps, but what's more valuable to us in this situation? Information, or the state of a store none of us have any affiliation with?"

"That's... true." The blue-haired boy pressed his lips together, thinking.

Roy, however, was still unconvinced. "But it's the principal of the matter; he's stealing, and he should be punished for it. Why don't we just beat the questions out of him and turn him into the authorities afterwards?"

"Because you cocky idiots keep acting like you're strong enough to force me to do what you want, when you're not!" Bowser hollered. Sick of the chatter between the teens, he rushed at Roy, claws outstretched. The redhead only had time to stumble backwards, the koopa catching his abdomen and tearing through the cloth of his shirt, the pressure just barely enough to create a thin slice across the area. He hissed in pain, grasping at the fresh wound to cover it with his hands.

His friends moved in front of him, the blue-haired male with his sword outstretched and the female with her needle pointed at Bowser's throat. The blonde with the green cap stayed back, surveying the damage Roy had taken.

Bowser, however, was not deterred by either of them. As they pointed their sharp weapons in his direction, he only bared his teeth. "You're mistaken," said the one with the needle. "We greatly outnumber you, and we have reinforcements on the way. You have no hope of escape. I think it's reasonable to assume we'll win if you decide to continue fighting us."

Her words only produced an amused snort from Bowser, steam starting to curl out of his nose as he released his breath. "I'm not afraid of any of you punks," he said. "And I don't have to tell you anything."

With that, he opened up his mouth once more. But instead of being interrupted as he had earlier, a steady stream of fire blasted forth, heading straight for the two of them. The one with the needle swiftly dodged, but the blue-haired male was not as graceful. Fire caught at the bottom of his pants and started to sear his skin, the water floating around his hands now dripping down to put out the flames.

Snake took this as an opportunity, sneaking up behind the distracted swordsmen and using his arm to secure the other in a choke-hold. It worked, and the blue-haired man let out a strangled gasp, trying to wrestle Snake's arm away with his free hand. He jerked and lashed out, using his elbows to jab at whatever he could, but Snake kept his grip firm.

"What the hell?" Roy, who had since recovered, exclaimed. As the needle-wielder became locked in combat with Bowser, both the redhead and the boy in the floppy cap came after the invisible force that was restraining their friend. Snake, however, saw them coming, spinning around and using his captive as a meat shield.

They circled each other, the two friends attempting to get behind Marth and go after Snake, but the man wasn't letting his guard down. As they were locked in a stalemate, the invisible man leaned over and quietly spoke in Marth's ear. "If it's information you want, I'll give it to you." He offered.

The blue-haired male froze for only a moment before continuing his struggles. "Yeah, right. What's the catch?" He hissed back rather sarcastically.

"You're gonna have to pay me for it."

"How much?"

"Whatever's on you, and your secrecy. I don't think my friend here would like it very much if he learned I'm a sellout," Snake chuckled softly to himself.

"Deal." The other boy whispered back, then turned to his friends. "I'll be fine, you two! Go ahead and help Sheik!" As if to emphasize his point, the one Snake now knew as Shiek slammed into the far wall, and Snake could see parts of their clothes had already been singed.

Just as he had asked, Roy and the other male had nodded and left to engage Bowser, their fists raised. Snake relaxed his grip on his captive, but he kept up the act of struggling. "What is it you want to know?" He asked.

The other dropped his hand into his pocket, pulling out a wallet and slipping it to Snake. "We think something's going on involving those with powers; like how a friend of mine stopped this same koopa from abducting someone, and how another friend of mine has also disappeared. Do you have any idea what the connection is?"

Towards the back of the store, Bowser and the other three were evenly matched. The koopa's hard shell made it difficult for Roy or the blonde boy to land a decent hit, but attacking from the front left them a perfect target for getting fire breathed on them. On the other hand, Bowser only had so much strength, and keeping three different enemies at bay was no easy feat.

"You people are quite clever, trying to connect the dots like this on your own." Snake said as Bowser unleashed another fiery blast. Roy counteracted with his own flames, giving Sheik the opportunity to launch a needle through the koopa's foot. "I'll confirm your little theory; we are specifically targeting those who possess powers."

Bowser yanked the needle out of his foot with a hiss, then threw it at the blonde male. He tried to duck, but was a bit too slow; the weapon caught him in his shoulder. Still, the boy was not deterred. He ripped the thin weapon out in the same fashion Bowser had done before charging back towards the koopa.

The blue-haired male opened his mouth, but paused to gather his thoughts. Snake patiently waited, using his own free hand to dig through the contents of the wallet handed to him. He was surprised and lucky to find quite a few bills inside. After all, a credit or debit card account was only useful if the owner wasn't smart enough to cancel the account. "We? How many of you are in on this?" The other finally asked.

"About seven." Snake estimated.

At this point, the other three had gained the upper hand. Even if the blonde boy had stopped using one of his arms, most likely due to the shoulder injury, Sheik had successfully lodged another three needles into Bowser's thick skin. Any attempts the koopa made to launch a flamethrower became neutralized by Roy's own fire. Snake's comrade growled in frustration, looking to him for help. He immediately tightened his grip on the blue-haired boy, who played into the act and kept thrashing about.

"And how many people have you taken so far?" He spoke again once Bowser looked away.

"Four."

"... What are you people trying to accomplish with this?"

Snake folded the wallet back up, done with his extraction of almost all the contents. The invisible man decided to take all but the others' drivers' license (as he, personally, had no use for it) before slipping it back to his fake captive. "I'm afraid you can't afford that information." He said, before releasing the boy and taking a few steps back.

More footsteps clacked towards the front of the entrance, signalling the arrival of another, rather buff male with a dark-colored batamon. By now, the fight between Bowser and the three teenagers had all but come to a close, small fires lazily flickering around them.

Snake's captive raised his sword back up, but looked to the newcomers. "Be careful, I know we've almost got this taken care of, but there's an invisible person hiding in here somewhere."

"Got it," the buff male responded as the batamon wordlessly launched into aiding the effort to subdue Bowser. The koopa, however, had had enough.

"That's it, I'm sick of dealing with you brats!" He growled, forcefully shoving everything and everyone he could out of his way as he stomped towards the front entrance of the store. "I'm outta here, but that doesn't mean you've won! You haven't seen the last of me!"

The two blue-haired friends, however, were quick to block the front entrance in an attempt to keep the koopa from escaping. But Snake saw this as his cue to leave, as well; he snuck up to the two and kicked at them. The two lost their balance for a moment, giving both him and Bowser the time they needed to get out the door and disappear down the road.

* * *

"Damn it!" Roy cursed, idly kicking at nothing and shoving his hands in his pockets. "We were so close!"

Sheik hummed, cleaning blood off the needles she could still recover. "Maybe, but this wasn't pointless. Now we know almost for certain that this koopa, and quite possibly others, are more than just ordinary criminals."

"Indeed." Meta Knight nodded along. "Now we just need to be patient, and wait for another opportunity to catch them once more."

Marth looked up, stray droplets falling from his fingers as he used the last of his water reserves to put out the small fires within the store. "We know more than just that," He smirked. "Turns out the invisible guy was willing to take a bribe, so he told me a few things."

He received mixed reactions, mostly that of shock, from his friends. "So that's why it took you so long to wrestle him off you," Sheik murmured. "What did he tell you?"

"It wasn't much," Marth admitted, sheathing Falchion back onto his belt. "But I managed to get some confirmation, and some numbers. There's about seven people in on this business, and their target is anyone who possesses superpowers. Unfortunately, he refused to tell me why, but he also said that they've kidnapped four people so far."

"So we were right about the whole powers thing," Roy commented, putting a hand to his chin as he processed the information.

Meta Knight scowled under his mask. "Now there's almost no doubt that they're responsible for what happened to Lucario. From now on, we must be even more cautious."

"Right," Ike piped up. "But right now, let's get out of here before someone calls the cops. I'd rather not have a repeat of what happened the last time we broke into a building."

* * *

 _I should've had this up a wee bit sooner, but better late than never. Thanks for reading!_


	9. Chapter 9

Peach pressed the red button on her phone, ending the call with Rosalina. She dropped the hand which held the device to her lap and sighed, leaning her forehead against the wheel of the car.

"Are you scared?" Olimar, seated in a baby chair in the backseat, called to her. He unbuckled his own seatbeat and crawled up to the seat next to her.

"No," Peach laughed humorlessly. "This just isn't going to be easy."

Her friend said nothing, but there was nothing that needed to be said between them in the first place. Peach took a steadying breath, then slipped the phone back into her purse and pushed the car door open. Olimar followed suit, and the two of them made their way up to the front door of Ness' house.

They both paused, gathering their wits and taking a moment to review the advice Rosalina had just given them about how to talk with upset parents. Hopefully, the information would be helpful.

Finally, Peach lightly rapped on the door three times, a few seconds passing before another blonde woman opened the door. "May I help you?" She had a pleasant smile, which only served to twist Peach's gut with guilt.

Regardless, she smiled back. "Yes, I'm Ms. Toadstool, and this is a close friend of mine, Olimar," she introduced, and the parent's eyes shined with realization.

"Oh, right, you must be Link's mom! Thank you for letting my son stay over at your place; he hasn't caused too much trouble for you, has he?" The other woman inquired.

"Ah, no. I'm not Link's mom, I'm just... a legal guardian," Peach tried to amend before she could stop herself, cursing her own sudden incompetence at speaking with people. She normally felt so perfectly composed when it came to social interaction, but perhaps the nerves were starting to get to her. The other woman must have noticed, too, by the way her cheerful smile dipped ever so slightly.

"There's actually something we need to talk with you about," Olimar spoke up, causing any genuine cheeriness to vanish from the mother's face. It was not replaced with anger, or disappointment; she looked surprised, more than anything.

Regardless, she stepped away from the entrance and held the door out for her two new guests. "Please, come in then. I hope it's not anything too terrible," she pressed her lips together as Peach and Olimar walked into the home. They followed her as she led them down the hall and into a small, but quaint living room.

The two took seats on the couch as the mother offered drinks, but they both respectfully declined. She took a seat in an armchair that sat to the left of the coffee table, yet kept her polite posture.

"I suppose this is about Ness, isn't it?" The mother stated matter-of-factly. It was an easy assumption. After all, what other reason would they have for visiting the family?

Peach nodded, but didn't immediately say anything. She glanced around the room, observing the candles, family memorabilia, and various other knick-knacks in the room as she contemplated where to begin with an explanation. The pictures caught her eye more than anything, though, as Peach fondly examined the smiling faces of a slightly younger Ness, his mother, as well as a small blonde toddler in the more recent photographs.

But her gut twisted with guilt as she remembered why she was here. "Yes." Peach finally said, twiddling her thumbs. "It's a long story, and I'm not sure where to begin," she admitted, frowning.

Ness' mother, however, seemed to be shockingly patient. "How about from the beginning?"

Peach and Olimar were reluctant to comply, neither of them quite sure how to make their far-fetched story seem more believable. Eventually, they started their story just as the mother requested, beginning from the moment the trio of time travelers had arrived at their shop. They explained the story of those three, and how not only the two of them, but Ness and quite a few others had come together to both help the time travelers and save their own futures.

However, the two finally paused as the moment they had been dreading came. Perhaps they could have made up a lie, some kind of excuse as to why Ness would not be coming home for a while, but both Peach and Olimar knew deep down that it would be unfair. Even if a lie would've been more comforting, the mother deserved to know the whole truth.

"We'd planned a rescue mission, and went through with it on Halloween." Olimar explained further. Ness' mother nodded along, and Peach was surprised that, despite her tensed body language, the woman had shown no signs of disbelief.

"And, well, Ness teleported into the house, and never came back out." Peach finished. She hoped the other woman understood what they were trying to say. A lump was starting to form in Peach's throat, and she didn't know how much more explanation she could handle. "I'm sorry," she choked out.

The mother sucked in a breath, and Peach could tell her eyes were starting to water, too. It was a few moments before she spoke to them.

"I knew about the whole business with the time travelers; Ness told me about that part. I think, in the back of my mind, I knew he was in danger." She stopped herself, frowning as she thought of what she needed to say. "This whole situation is strange. I felt so disconnected from it, that I didn't take it seriously. And now..." the woman wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her pink shirt.

Peach shook her head vigorously. "Don't blame yourself for this!" She hastily replied.

"That's right." Olimar added. "If anything, this is on us. We were the ones to jump onto the idea of a rescue mission, and maybe if we had been more cautious, this wouldn't have happened."

Ness' mother said nothing, instead giving a slow nod. Her gaze lowered to her lap as she quietly accepted the reality before her.

"I promise, we'll do everything we can to get him back." Peach said.

* * *

Roy strolled into the office a little more casually than he should have, which threw Douglas completely off-guard. The officer hadn't expected the redhead to pay him a visit.

"Am I interrupting something, Officer Falcon? The secretary lady said it was okay to come talk to you." The younger explained, leaning against the far wall and crossing his arms.

Douglas shook his head, clearing away the paperwork on his desk by shoving it into a drawer. "You're fine, have a seat! And I told you to call me Captain Falcon." He said, laughing. "What's the problem?"

Roy grabbed the chair sitting in the corner and dragged it over to the opposite side of Douglas' desk, taking the seat he was offered while staying face-to-face with the officer. "Well, my friends and I ran into some more trouble, and we haven't really told anyone yet because it has to do with the whole fiasco from the first time we met," he explained, referring back to the incident in which he and his friends had been arrested.

Douglas nodded along, waiting for more explanation. The idea that those kids had gotten into more trouble bothered him, especially since Roy had yet to explain what had happened.

"And, y'know, no one back then really took us seriously, except for you. So I figured you'd be the right guy to come talk to." The redhead elaborated.

"You've got that right." Douglas replied. The officer still hadn't figured out the mysteries behind the first case involving the teens, and if they had encountered more trouble that had to do with the same subject, he was curious to learn more. "What happened?"

Roy started with the basics; how Marth had come back one day with an observation that led to them piecing together a rather strange theory, how they'd met up with Meta Knight the next time they tried to do their own investigating, and formed a night patrol team for their own, unorthodox version of crime fighting.

"Oh, I get it, you came here to take my job!" Douglas laughed at his own joke. Perhaps he should have condoned the actions Roy and his friends had taken, as it sounded like quite the dangerous hobby, and more than likely undermined the abilities and authority of the police force. Still, the officer couldn't help but feel a little proud of their actions and willingness to do what they believed was right.

The redhead shook his head, but he gave a light laugh along with the officer. "That's a tempting offer, but I've got a different career in mind." He shook his head. "I mean, we originally started going out because we wanted to find clues, not to go crime fighting. And for a while, we didn't find anything. But here's the thing; when we went out on Halloween night, we actually ended up running into something serious!"

Douglas furrowed his eyebrows, frowning. He stayed silent, however, waiting to hear the rest of Roy's story.

"We heard this commotion going on in a nearby jewelry store, so we went in to check it out, and we ran into this koopa Ike had seen causing trouble before. There was another guy there, too, but he was invisible, so we never found out who he was. Anyways, I think they were trying to rob the place before we stepped in. They ended up escaping, too, but not before Marth got some information out of the invisible guy." The redhead said.

The younger paused to take a breath and gauge Douglas' expression. The officer nodded along, urging Roy to continue. "Our theory was right, there is trouble brewing, and it has to do with our powers. These robbers are part of a group that's been targeting people who have them, and as far as we know, they've already abducted four people."

Douglas' eyes widened as his throat ran dry. He quickly turned towards the computer sitting at his desk, clicking and typing furiously to pull up the data he was looking for. "I don't suppose they told you who those people were." The man frowned.

Roy shook his head. "No, but I'm pretty sure one of them was a lucario. It was friends with Meta Knight, and it's disappearance was kind of what clued us in that something wrong was going on."

Douglas nodded, flipping through files of people who had recently been reported missing. There was, indeed, a lucario on record. The officer scrolled through more of the files, searching each one to differentiate between those who possess powers and those who didn't. His gut flip-flopped when Samus' record appeared; previously, it had served as a terrible reminder that his long-time friend was gone. Now, clues were in place that pointed towards the truth behind her disappearance, and a new hope surged in his heart.

"It's strange, though." He narrowed his gaze at the screen. "You said there were four victims? We only have three people on file that fit your criteria; Samus Aran, Robin Vincent, and Lucario."

The younger of the two chewed on his bottom lip, thinking. "That is weird. Maybe they took the fourth person and no one noticed, so they didn't report it?"

"It's a possibility." Douglas noted, closing the opened files and turning back to Roy. "Still, thank you for coming in and telling me this. I'll definitely keep an eye out and try to do some investigating on my own."

Roy nodded vigorously, standing from his seat and shaking hands with Douglas. "Don't mention it. Thanks for listening, we'll keep you updated if we find out anything new."

The officer smiled, waving as the redhead exited the office. "Alright, but stay safe out here!" He called out.

* * *

"Thank you for dinner, it was wonderful." Ike complimented, standing by the doorway as Palutena saw him out of their home.

The green-haired woman's smile shone with pride. "Yeah? I guess I'm getting better at this whole cooking thing."

Granted, it wasn't that hard to boil noodles and use pre-made spaghetti sauce, but Ike held his tongue. Instead, there was something more pressing he wanted to discuss. He stopped by the entrance to the home, and eyed their surroundings to make sure Pit was not within earshot. After all, he did not want to accidentally encourage the winged boy to do something reckless. "There's something I need to tell you, though."

Palutena raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"When my friends and I went out on Halloween night, we ran into that same koopa that attacked Pit."

The green-haired woman frowned, folding her arms together in front of her. "Really? What happened?"

Ike scratched at the back of his head. "We tried to catch him so we could take him into the authorities, but he got away. We did end up learning a few things from the encounter, though." He explained, pausing to gauge Palutena's expression. She seemed thoughtful, eyes locked on the ground as she processed the information, and he continued. "Our theory ended up having some credibility, because there are people out there who've been targeting anyone who's got superpowers."

Palutena's frown deepened, but she stayed silent, as if waiting for Ike to finish. "I just thought I'd let you know, since this is something Pit's involved in, and it's putting him in danger." The blue-haired male added.

She still didn't look pleased, however. "Ok, but doesn't this mean you're going to run into trouble, too?" Palutena looked back up at Ike, her eyebrows knit in concern.

The other was taken aback. Admittedly, he hadn't thought about it from that perspective before, but the concept made sense. Roy, Marth, Zelda, Link, Meta Knight, himself; they all had powers, so wouldn't they eventually become targets too? If so, how safe was it for them to continue night patrols around the city?

Ike shook his head. Their group had sustained a few injuries here and there, but ultimately, they had done just fine whenever these confrontations happened. If anyone decided to come after just one of their group, it was a guarantee that nobody was going down without a fight.

"We'll be fine, don't worry about us too much. After all, we did almost take down that koopa, and no one on our side ended up with severe injuries."

Palutena didn't seem completely convinced, but she hid it behind a smile all the same. "If you say so. Just don't get too cocky, now."

The blue-haired male nodded, turning around and placing a hand on the doorknob. "It's alright, I won't. Goodnight, and thanks again for dinner."

Palutena nodded back to him as he shut the door behind him. "Goodnight."

* * *

"So..." Robin began awkwardly. "What are you reading?"

Shulk frowned, looking up from the text held in his hands. He didn't look particularly disturbed or angry, but Robin inwardly squirmed under his gaze nonetheless. It had been quiet in the study for a long time, and they had thought it a good idea to break the silence with some friendly conversation. However, the idea seemed to backfire, as now Robin felt nothing but a bit uncomfortable.

"It's nothing too important," The homs replied, lightly shuffling through the pages as if to demonstrate his point. "it's just a book on mechanics."

"Oh, so are you interested in engineering?" Robin pressed, now eager at the prospect of their conversation going in a friendly direction. Samus' son had remained awfully closed off ever since he came to reside within the mansion, and Robin wouldn't deny they were curious to learn more about him.

Shulk's lips bent into a soft smile, folding the book closed and placing it next to him on the couch. "Yeah, mechanical engineering, if you want to be specific."

It was Robin's turn to smile as they abandoned their own work and leaned back in their desk chair. "Impressive. I'm an archaeologist, myself."

"I guess that's why they want you studying that tablet," The blonde's tone shifted, his gaze narrowing at the object in question, which sat on Robin's desk. He absentmindedly tapped his fingers against his abandoned reading material, and the other noticed the slight change in his demeanor.

"Yes," Robin continued, "This piece is one of the very few artifacts recovered from the Crata ruins. There is actually a theory out there that suggests our powers could come from that place." They paused, sighing. "But there are many theories out there that pertain to the origin of people like us, and none of them have any reliable credibility. It's frustrating for many historians, including myself."

Their fingers scratched against the armrest of their chair and their eyesight shifted to the wall as Robin thought. "It's even more frustrating that this is the theory Ganondorf and the others want me to investigate. Call me superstitious, but there's just something about those ruins that's horribly unsettling."

The white-haired person flicked their gaze back to Shulk, surprised to see him suddenly so distraught. His mouth was pressed together and his gaze was fixed on the floor; he had since stopped tapping against the hardcover of his book.

"Ah, I'm sorry," Robin tried to amend. "I didn't mean to go on a tangent."

Shulk shook his head, however, refocusing on the moment. "I don't mind," He smiled once more, but Robin noticed it was a tad less genuine. The homs picked up the book he had previously stopped reading and stood up. "But if you'll excuse me, I think I'm gonna head back to my room for a bit. I'm a little tired."

With that, he had left Robin to the silence of the room and their own thoughts. Their gaze slid back to the tablet resting on their desk, and the white-haired person couldn't help but think of how the homs had such a change in attitude once they had brought up the subject of the ruins. Perhaps he and that place shared a connection?

Robin tried to think back, to see what kind of history they could remember not of the physical ruins, but of the people involved with it. The last expedition team had set out fourteen years ago, but an unknown accident had cost almost all the members their lives.

Their eyes widened in realization, grabbing at their laptop on the desk and flipping it open in order to check their facts. They dug around the internet and brought up the old article that had detailed the event, and Robin's memory was correct. The sole survivor of the expedition had been none other than the four year-old child of two researchers- Shulk Soss.

The white-haired person's mind was spinning as they dug further to see if they could find a picture of the said child. The facts could be lined up, but Robin wanted to see more definitive proof before they came to a conclusion. Shulk was not a common name, and they knew the homs had to have been adopted, as Samus was human herself. How far of a stretch was it to assume Shulk Soss and Shulk Aran were the same person?

Finally, Robin managed to find a picture of the survivor after surfing through a few websites. Sure enough, the child in the photo shared the same wispy blonde hair and light blue eyes that Shulk had. Their features were strikingly similar as well, despite the baby fat still present in the younger's face.

The revelation certainly answered why Shulk responded to the topic of the ruins in the way he did, but now Robin had even more questions. Did he remember anything from the ruins? Why had he never talked with anyone about the subject?

Robin sighed, resting their arm on the desk and their head in the open palm. The more they thought about it, the more unhelpful this new information seemed. Whatever had occurred certainly had to have been traumatic for a four year-old child to witness. It explained why no one pushed too hard to get information from him in the beginning, all those years ago. But still, even if it had been many years, Robin did not want to be the person to question Shulk while it was still obvious he was uncomfortable with the topic.

The door to the study swung open once more, and Robin hurriedly closed the laptop as Ganondorf strolled into the room. He lowered himself into an armchair with a frustrated groan, and Robin contemplated why this room in particular seemed to be the preferred place to come to for the ridiculous, villainous brooding that some of the house's residents were prone to.

"I don't know what to do," Ganondorf lamented. He was talking to himself more than Robin, but they could tell he appreciated that someone was, at least, listening. "No matter what, that boy refuses to talk. I've tried bribery and threats, but he won't say a word." He sighed.

Robin raised an eyebrow at him. At first, they had been confused, their mind still on the revelation of Shulk's past. Then Robin remembered the most recent member of their strange household, still locked inside a room in the basement, and they understood what the orange-haired male was actually talking about. Still, those were the only tactics Ganondorf had tried, and the man was already at a loss? It was unusual, and he could see the confusion on Robin's face.

"I don't want to resort to physically or mentally torturing a child." He explained. "Perhaps you think I'm an evil person, and I won't blame you for thinking so. But I'm not completely devoid of morals."

* * *

 _How about some cool surname trivia, because those gave me a little trouble this chapter, lol. Robin's last name comes from David Vincent, who is male Robin's English voice actor. There's also debate on whether or not "Soss" is actually Shulk's canon last name, but I think it's cool regardless of the legitimacy. Even if the name does sound like "Sauce," lol. I had no idea if I should've given Lucario a last name or not. Whoops._

 _Also, to the guest reviewer I can't PM: I'm totally okay with you writing a story based on this one; as long as it's not, like, a carbon copy of this one or anything (which I'm sure it probably isn't)! Actually, it makes me really happy that someone likes this story enough to be inspired by it! I'd love to read it, if you ever decide to publish it._

 _Finally, as always, thank you for reading!_


	10. Chapter 10

Lucina shifted in her seat, uncomfortable under the gaze of the officer. He sat across the desk, one leg folded on top of the other as he gave her a bored stare. It was obvious that all of the courage she mustered to explain their situation to a stranger had gone to waste.

She pressed her lips together as the officer opened his mouth and sighed. "I'm sorry, miss, but I don't quite follow with your story here. It's just," He paused, waving his hands around as he tried to find the words. "It's just too far-fetched. You honestly expect anyone to believe all of that? Especially if you have no proof?"

"Well," Lucina sucked in a breath, looking at the floor. The officer was treating her very much like a child that needed to be scolded, which both embarassed and infuriated her. Unfortunately, she could think of no witty or clever response to refute the man's attitude, and was left with no choice but to struggle with her words. "I guess the only proof we have is that we know who's gone missing, and why."

"That's not much proof. People can vanish for many reasons, and if they leave no trail it's easy to make baseless claims." The officer knit his eyebrows; it was clear he was getting tired of having Lucina in his office.

Still, she wasn't quite ready to give up. "Look, it's fine if you don't believe me, but would it really hurt to at least give us the benefit of the doubt and come with us back to that house?"

"Yes." The officer was stern, which only served to increase Lucina's anger. Even if she had been expecting this kind of outcome from the beginning, the rejection still stung. "This is a big city, we don't have the resources to just do whatever we want on a whim. Besides, this could very easily be a trap you're setting for us here."

Lucina grit her teeth. "Why would we set up a trap?" She said, exasperated. It certainly didn't do anything to further sell her story to the officer, but it was a lost cause at this point.

The man leaned back in his chair and sighed once more. "Look, I'm sorry, but realistically, there's just nothing we can do for you. Now if there's nothing more you have to say, then I think this appointment is over." He said, gesturing to the door.

The blue-haired girl scowled at him, but stood from her seat and made her way to the door. She wanted to stop and make a quip, tell him that if her and her friends failed to stop what was to come, that he was going to heavily regret declining their request for help. However, she knew antagonizing the man would do nothing, and instead held her tongue as she briskly walked out of the office.

Dark Pit and the others were waiting towards the front of the police station as she made her way to join them. It seemed her sour expression was enough to imply how the meeting had gone, as no one bothered to ask.

"I knew this was a waste of time," Dark Pit grumbled, crossing his arms in front of himself. "Let's just go."

"Well, at least we know for sure now that we can't expect help from them." Peach said. She was trying her best to stay optimistic, but it seemed there was little to be thankful for in this situation.

Lucina only shrugged, saying nothing as their group began their exit from the building. She was the last one to leave, stopping to hold the door open for another police officer to enter. As the man looked at her to give her his thanks, his jaw dropped open. Lucina raised an eyebrow at him as he stood in the doorway, gawking at her.

"Can I help you?" She asked. Her friends, noticing her falling behind, had turned around to see why she had stopped.

"Ah, I'm sorry, you just..." The man trailed off as he saw the faces of the others, his eyes practically bulging in surprise as he noticed Toon Link. "This can't be a coincidence!" He suddenly shouted.

"What?" Lucina said, her voice less impassive than she intended. A gut feeling told her exactly what this man was thinking about, and her eyes drifted to make contact with Toon Link's and Dark Pit's; they seemed to be thinking the same thing, as well. How were they going to explain their way out of this one? Could they get away with feigning ignorance?

The man furrowed his eyebrows together, placing a hand on his chin as he examined Toon Link and Lucina in particular. "You two look just like these two teenagers I know. I mean, I've heard of people looking alike before, but nothing like this! You're, like," he waved his hands around, as if to emphasize a point. "You're like their carbon copies! How?"

Lucina inwardly groaned. She did not want to have this kind of elaborate conversation in a doorway. "I, um, don't know what you mean?" Her voice wavered, and she could tell by his face that the man wasn't buying into it.

Still, he hid his underlying suspicion fairly well, taking no direct action based off of it. Instead, he just smiled and laughed the subject off. "Yeah, I guess it is just a coincidence then. Maybe I should introduce the lot of you to them! How cool would it be to meet someone who looked just like you?"

Dark Pit opened his mouth, a denial on the verge of his lips, but Lucina beat him to a response. "Actually, that does sound pretty cool." She said, smiling back at him.

* * *

Lucina was the last to pile into the car, Peach turning on the engine and looking over her shoulder as she backed out of her parking spot.

Dark Pit had been relatively silent during the walk to the car, but now that they were in the privacy of an enclosed space, he turned around from his seat in the front to face the blue-haired girl. "What the hell was that?" He glowered at her.

While the others looked to the winged boy in confusion, Lucina knew exactly what he was talking about. She pursed her lips, unamused. "We're going to have to meet them eventually. Maybe this way, we can get their help."

"Huh?" Olimar looked between the two of them as they exchanged challenging stares. Toon Link appeared equally confused, observing as Dark Pit eventually scoffed and stepped down, turning back around in his seat to face the front.

Peach hummed thoughtfully as the car slowed to a halt at a stoplight. "I suppose this has to do with what happened when we ran into that Zelda girl. You never did explain that."

"Explain what?" Dark Pit frowned. "You two met Zelda? And you didn't say anything?"

Lucina shifted uncomfortably in her seat, still feeling the guilt for her lack of action that day. The car lurched forward again, and Peach came to her rescue. "Oh, never mind. Just don't worry about it, that's all in the past." She said, turning a corner.

"Well, yes," Lucina replied, absentmindedly twiddling her fingers. "But you're right, this does have something to do with a subject we haven't told you about before, and I think you and Olimar deserve to know."

Dark Pit kept his scowl, dissatisfied with Lucina's decision, but not so opposed that he'd throw a fit over it. Olimar, however, just smiled and shook his head. "Don't tell us just because you feel pressured to, though. Do it when you're ready."

"Alright." Lucina agreed, leaning back against her seat. "Then why don't we have this talk once we meet back up with that police officer and everyone else. That way, we don't have to tell the same story twice."

Toon Link nodded his approval, but Dark Pit narrowed his eyebrows. "I can't believe you're this eager to tell total strangers about this."

"Oh, please," Lucina shot back. "I know this won't exactly be easy, but quit acting like this is a subject we can avoid with these people. It's unrealistic."

* * *

After two days and a few phone calls, they decided to meet up at a small restaurant, Cafe Bar, to talk over lunch. The place was a bit of a hole in the wall, the pale pink wallpaper peeling a bit on the edges and the blue chairs creaking as they were sat upon. Still, the place seemed to hold a special charm in the air, and both Link and Zelda had insisted the food was delicious.

Douglas was the first to arrive, claiming a table towards the back and ordering a coffee to sip on as he waited. By the time the waitress came back with his drink, Marth and Link had arrived, their friends in tow. The officer waved them over, smiling. "Hey, how've you kids been?"

"We've been getting by," Roy casually shrugged, sliding into the chair across from the officer. The waitress came by once more to drop off menus and get drink orders from the newcomers, stopping to write the requests down before heading back to the kitchen. "What about you, Mr. Falcon?"

"Just the usual stuff. Aside from what we're doing today, anyways." Douglas replied, picking up a sugar packet and dumping its contents into his coffee.

"It is a little strange, though," Zelda hummed, flipping through her own menu. "To call us all here just because you want us to meet these people who supposedly look like Marth and Link."

The officer sipped at his coffee, pursed his lips at the bitter taste, and picked up another sugar packet. "Well, technically I didn't call all of you here, you just decided to tag along." He said.

"Touché." Zelda shrugged.

"But I'm pretty sure there's an underlying meaning here." Douglas continued, stirring his drink with his spoon. "I guess you guys haven't seem them yet, but the resemblance is just uncanny, and the fact that the two knew each other; well, how coincidental is that?"

He paused to take a drink, now satisfied with the amount of sugar in it. "Also, the way that girl acted when I told her she looked like Marth, it was almost like she knew what I was talking about. I think these people want more out of this meeting than just to see how much they look like someone."

As if on cue, a bell chimed towards the front of the restaurant as the door swung open, a motley group of five strolling in. Douglas waved them over in the same fashion he had done before, sneaking a glance at the reactions of the teens sitting with him. He suppressed at laugh at their stunned faces. "Glad to see you could come." He greeted.

"Thank you for meeting with us," nodded the blue-haired girl. She helped her friend, a portly blonde-haired woman, slide another table over as the other three carried the chairs. They seated themselves as the waitress came by for the third time, dropping off drinks. The poor girl looked a little exasperated at the appearance of even more people, but did her job nonetheless.

Once she was gone, Zelda was the first to speak up. "I remember you two now." She said, pointing to the two other girls. "I ran into you at the grocery store one time, and I noticed you looked a lot like Marth back then."

The Marth look-alike offered a shy smile. "Yeah, I remember you too. My name's Lucina. This is Peach, Olimar, Dark Pit, and Toon Link." She said, pointing to the respective people she introduced. The winged boy didn't seem too pleased that Lucina had done all the introductions herself, but he held his tongue.

On the flip side, the teens began their introductions. "I'm Ike." the blue-haired boy was the last to introduce himself, giving Dark Pit a strange look. "Sorry if this is rude, but," he paused, trying to formulate the words. "You look just like a kid I tutor, who also happens to be named Pit. And considering that kid," he shifted his gaze from Dark Pit to Toon Link. "Also has Link in his name... well, Douglas is right. This is one very weird coincidence."

"That's because it's not a coincidence." Dark Pit muttered, leaning back in his chair the best he could with his wings blocking the way.

"Excuse me?" Roy blurted, leaning across the table to make eye contact with Dark Pit. The winged boy, however, remained silent as the waitress came back to deliver the last of the drinks and finally take orders for food.

As she left again, Lucina picked the conversation back up. "Well, he's right, but it has to do with a very long and very unbelievable story."

"You can tell us." Roy pressed. "We've seen and done some pretty weird things lately, too. I'm sure we can handle whatever it is!"

Lucina widened her eyes. "Really?" She seemed a bit surprised by the redhead's comment. "Like what?"

Marth had remained quiet for quite sometime, still marveling in the fact that Douglas had been right about the strange appearances of the people they were meeting. At that moment, he finally chose to speak up. "Wait." He said. "You tell us your story, first. Then we'll tell you ours."

His look-alike pursed her lips, taking a drink from the water she ordered. "I suppose that's fair." She paused, taking a deep breath. "Just don't completely write us off with what I'm about to say."

Lucina put her glass back down onto the table, folding her arms in front of her and resting them on the aforementioned piece of furniture. "The three of us," she said, pointing to Dark Pit, Toon Link, and herself. "are clones. From the future."

Douglas choked on his coffee as Roy's eyes widened to comical proportions. Link's face scrunched in confusion, while Marth furrowed his eyebrows. Zelda and Ike looked at Lucina as if she'd just spouted one of the most ridiculous things they'd ever heard; in a way, she had. Even Peach and Olimar, whom the rest had assumed already knew this information, seemed a little shocked at their friend's comment.

"Ok, geez," Lucina cringed at the mixed responses, uncomfortable under the gazes of so many people. She looked to her drink, absentmindedly stirring it to give herself a reason to shy away from their stares. "Let me elaborate. I think I should start with the beginning."

"You see, we come from a timeline in which the world was falling apart at the hands of an organization called SSB. The three of us weren't around when it first got started, so we don't know everything about what it was originally like, but we would sometimes hear about how the whole thing wasn't nearly as awful as it was when we were around." Lucina stopped stirring her drink, leaning forward and letting her arms rest on the table. Her eyes softened slightly as she described the last part, as if she still held the small hope that the stories she once heard could still be considered true.

However, her expression quickly hardened. "Anyways," she continued. "What matters is that by the time we were created, the leaders had become power-hungry monsters. They'd gone around, capturing anyone who held supernatural abilities in order to force them into becoming living weapons."

"But why?" Roy interrupted, stressfully chewing at the bottom of his lip. The story Lucina was telling them lined up quite well with the information Marth had gotten from the invisible man Halloween night, and the revelation left an unsettled feeling in the redhead's gut. "What reason could they possibly have for wanting people like us, to, y'know..." Unable to find the exact words he needed, the redhead waved his hands around to get the point across instead.

Dark Pit scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? World domination."

Marth frowned, shaking his head in denial. "But that's ridiculous. Surely no one would be reckless enough to attempt such a thing."

"Then you've got more faith in civilization than you should." Dark Pit shot back. "Think about it. If you had some questionable morals and thought you had enough firepower to get away with whatever the hell you wanted, wouldn't you try to give it a shot, too?"

Marth fell silent, thinking of no adequate response. Zelda set her own cup of tea down, looking to Dark Pit. "Is that how you three were created, then? Did they want more people to serve as weapons, or something along that line?" She asked.

Lucina was the one to answer her, as the winged boy had decided he no longer wanted to bother with the explanation. "Well, in a sense, you're right, but there's more to it." The blue-haired girl responded, finally looking up from the table to get a better look at everyone's faces.

She took a deep breath, unsure of the reactions she might receive for what she had to tell them. "Obviously, trying to take over the world is not easy, and powers or not, no one is invincible. Marth, Link, and Pit were all killed in our timeline." Lucina stopped herself, knowing that what she'd just said would be quite the shock. As she expected, everyone's faces paled; Marth, Link, and Ike more-so than anyone else.

After a moment, she continued. "The SSB tried to use the DNA left by the three to create replacement clones, and they succeeded. We aren't exact copies, but we are alive and well and have powers of our own."

There was a heavy silence. "Oh my god." Roy finally breathed, his fingers gripping the table and his eyes wide as he looked at Lucina. "This is insane. You were right, this is really something that's hard to believe."

Douglas set his coffee mug back down on the table, the cup now empty of its contents. "But we can't deny any of this. I mean, the proof is right here." He said, gesturing once more to Lucina and Toon Link, as if to emphasize the surreal similarity they had to Marth and Link.

Marth shuddered. "So, does this mean we're going to die?" He whispered.

Lucina's gut wrenched at his horrified tone. She knew it probably wasn't very pleasant to have someone tell you that you were going to die; but it was a necessary evil. Still, she was quick to shake her head. "It's not a guarantee anymore. When Dark Pit, Toon Link, and I traveled here, the timeline changed. We don't know what's going to happen anymore, but needless to say, I would be careful the next time you think about trying something reckless."

The blue-haired boy remained silent, giving a small nod.

"What I don't understand," Ike frowned, "is why they would try cloning to replace anyone they lost. I didn't think our powers were genetic."

"That's right," Peach said, placing a hand on her chin as she contemplated Ike's words. "I mean, there are theories out there that try to prove our powers are genetic, but those have like, no definitive results whatsoever. I wonder why they'd invest so much into cloning if they didn't know for sure if they'd get the outcome they wanted?"

Dark Pit huffed and shrugged. "Well, don't ask us, because we don't know those details."

A lull in the conversation had been reached as the waitress made her way back to the table, arms full with the many orders of food the large group had requested. Once she was gone, they were focused more on eating the meals presented to them than discussing the heavy topic of the time travelers' past. Instead, Lucina took the conversation in a different direction.

She looked to Roy. "You said earlier you'd done some weird things lately, and now that we're done with our explanation, I think it's time for yours."

The redhead looked up from his sandwich. "Oh! Right, I almost forgot about that." He gave a soft chuckle. "Now that we know your story and everything, I guess our adventures seem a little average. We'd already been thinking that something weird was going on when people started going missing, so we'd just started trying investigations of our own. We've... gotten mixed results." The teen shrugged, taking another bite of his meal.

Lucina nodded, furrowing her eyebrows as she took in this new information. The blue-haired girl understood the 'mixed results' to be little progress on their part, and didn't question the others further.

After the plates had been cleared and the bills split accordingly, Falcon spoke up. "I guess now we've gotta figure out what our next move will be."

Peach hummed in thought, resting her chin in the open palm of her hand. "Well, we already tried to break into their hideout to see if we could rescue anyone, but it didn't exactly end well."

"What do you mean?" Zelda politely inquired.

"We managed to rescue a lucario, but at the same time, someone else in our group ended up captured." Dark Pit frowned.

The teenagers shared a look. "A Lucario? It must've been the one you said went missing a while ago, Marth." Roy inferred.

"Yes, I'm glad to hear it's out of that situation now." The blue-haired boy nodded. "But it's still unfortunate that someone else had to take it's place. I suppose since your first rescue mission didn't end very favorably, you're not exactly inclined to launch another one." He said, looking towards his clone and her friends.

Lucina shook her head. "No. While it's true that we should have strength in our numbers at this point, the people we're facing should not be taken lightly. I think the most important thing to do at this point in time is to keep on the look-out for anyone who possesses powers. As long as we can warn them, and help them avoid imprisonment, then we can at least make sure that the SSB doesn't grow in power."

Zelda pressed her lips together, her gaze fixated on the table as she thought. The hylian was tempted to say something about Lucina's plan; that if all they did was help people avoid capture, then Zelda predicted that nothing more than a stalemate would occur. Still, the blue-haired girl had a point. They'd outnumbered the fire-breathing koopa and the invisible man during the confrontation on Halloween night, but the two had still managed to get away. At the same time, Lucina was from the future; it was possible she knew important information that would influence her to make such a decision. Though it made her wonder why the blue-haired girl would withhold something like that from them, she held her tongue.

Douglas leaned back in his chair. "Well, then I suppose that's that." The officer shrugged. "I'll keep you all updated if any reports come in about missing people, and if there's anything else I can do, you've got my number."

"Right, then." Marth said. "I guess this meeting's adjourned."

* * *

 _Sorry for the delayed update- maybe I should stop saying that I plan for them to come weekly, but at the same time, setting deadlines for myself helps give me that extra push of motivation, regardless of whether or not I meet them. Also, finals and holidays are a thing. Either way, just know that they'll come... eventually, lol. As always, thank you very much for reading!_


	11. Chapter 11

Samus looked up as the door to her workshop swung open; a rare occurrence. No one usually went out of their way to bother her when she was in this room.

The intruder was none other than Ganondorf, who strolled into the place and stopped in front of her, the workbench separating them. He kept silent as his gaze shifted downwards, examining the blueprints that were messily scattered around on the surface of the workbench.

"Can I help you?" Samus flatly stated, raising an eyebrow as Ganondorf looked back up at her.

The orange-haired man remained as stoic as ever. He seemed in no immediate rush to address the original reason he came to see her, instead picking up one of the blueprints and examining it in further detail. "I see you've been busy." He nodded, satisfied.

"Yes, I have." Samus shot back, plucking the paper from Ganondorf's hands and setting it back on the table. He didn't seem too pleased by her actions, but disregarded them all the same. "Did you just come in here to check on me, or do you actually need something?"

The tall man was not quick to give a response. He frowned, as if trying to rethink his decision, before he ultimately spoke up. "It's been awhile since you've left the house, hasn't it?" Ganondorf mused; it wasn't inherently antagonistic, but Samus took it as such anyways.

"Your point?" She snapped, hiding the concern she felt upon the man's implications. "Obviously, I haven't been unproductive because of it." Samus said, gesturing to the papers on the table.

"I'm not doubting your contributions here." Ganondorf shook his head. "But you know Lucario has escaped, and we can't afford to let it run free for too much longer. It's a very real possibility that it could warn the authorities of our presence, if it hasn't already."

The blonde haired woman huffed, folding her arms across her chest. "So you want me to be the one to go get it? Instead of, I don't know, another lackey who's more interested in doing your dirty work?" She scowled, displeased at the prospect of donning her power suit once more. Still, her question was one of genuine interest. It made no sense for Ganondorf to force her into doing something she didn't particularly want to do when there were others that were both capable of handling the job and willing to pull it off.

"No one else is available for the job at the moment." Ganondorf answered, but failed to elaborate. The lack of detail in his explanation only served to fuel Samus' irritation.

She sighed, running a hand through her hair before her gaze drifted back down to the table, looking at the hand-drawn pictures and notes yet not quite processing the information. The blonde stayed silent, but Ganondorf remained where he was standing, patiently waiting for her to fully agree to the job he had just given her.

Finally, Samus looked back up, pursing her lips in frustration. "I've been here for months, and I still don't get any of this." She grit her teeth. Ganondorf said nothing. "The way you've trapped people here, the things you want us to do, none of it adds up." The blonde shook her head.

Ganondorf remained silent, crossing his arms in front of his chest and keeping his gaze on Samus. She continued. "I don't understand why you feel it's necessary to go through all this trouble to keep people here against their will, and I don't understand what, exactly, you want to do with this whole 'organization' business."

She turned her attention back to the table, shuffling through all the papers until she picked up one blueprint in particular and held it up to the man's face. Depicted on the page was a crisp drawing of an arm and notes hastily scribbled on the side. "Take this thing, for instance. Why are you asking me to try and make something like it? What could you possibly use some fancy prosthetic for in whatever kind of evil scheme you want to pull off next? Are you planning on chopping someone's arm off just to give them this instead? Why?"

"Samus," Ganondorf cut her off, his voice infuriatingly calm. He plucked the paper out of her grasp and set it back down onto the table. Turning her back to her, he strode towards the door, only pausing once and never turning back around. "Have you ever wondered where our powers come from?"

After that statement, he left; leaving Samus to her own frustration.

* * *

"Hey, wait up!"

Nana and Popo stopped simultaneously, turning their heads in opposite directions to find the source of the voice. The girl's eyes widened briefly at the person behind her, and she tapped Popo on the shoulder to get him to turn around as well.

"Oh, hi." He waved to the other boy, who had now caught up to them on the sidewalk a few blocks away from the school. "It's Pit, right?"

The winged boy smiled. "You got it. And you two are..." He trailed off, mentally racking his brain for the right names. "Nana and Popo?"

They both nodded, satisfied with the acknowledgement. "So what's up?" Popo asked.

Pit paused, pursing his lips together and suddenly looking anywhere but at Nana and Popo. He was a grade ahead of the both of them, and by the dictation of the social hierarchy and how their school split up classes, he should've had nothing to do with them or their group of friends as a result.

However, Ike and Palutena had insisted that he be left out of whatever conspiracy was in the works in Mashs city, and Pit had had enough of it. If the two of them weren't going to tell him everything, he'd get information from another source; and it was well-known throughout the school that Nana, Popo, and everyone in their friend group had powers.

"I'm just a little worried," Pit finally said. "I guess it's none of my business, but I couldn't help but notice that one of your friends hasn't come to school in a really long time, and you guys seem kind of upset about it. Is everything okay? Did something happen?"

Nana and Popo both paled, looking at one another for guidance and finding none. "Gee, uh, that's nice of you to notice..." Popo started, and Pit just barely picked up on the slight waver in his voice.

"Ness' dog died." Nana suddenly blurted, earning stares from the two boys. "And it hit him pretty hard. So he just hasn't been to school lately because he hasn't really been feeling up to it, you know?" She lied.

"Yeah!" Popo shook off his surprise and joined in. "Don't worry, we've been visiting him and he's getting better, so he should be back at school at some point. Thanks for worrying, though, that's really nice of you."

The winged boy pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at the two of them. They bent a little under his harsh gaze, but still stood their ground. Finally, Pit sighed; he really didn't have any way to prove their lie was wrong without coming off as insensitive. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." He said. "I hope your friend feels better soon, then."

Nana and Popo gave him an approving nod, and Pit turned around, as if to leave. But before he could, he stopped after the first couple of steps, an afterthought coming to mind. "You know," He added. "If you or your friends ever run into any trouble, you can let me know, okay? I know about what's going on in this city." The winged boy half-lied, watching as Nana and Popo flinched.

He hurried off before they could get the chance to call him out on the bluff.

* * *

A click resounded through the emptying hall, barely audible among the chatter of students on their way home for the day. Red opened his locker to yet another letter, the light paper falling out. He caught it before it floated to the floor, and though he already knew what it was, turned it over in his hands to confirm his suspicions.

The boy sighed, opening up the envelope with only his name scribbled on the front. He unfolded the paper it contained, reading its contents as he placed the envelope back into his locker.

' _Will you be my friend?_

 _Yes/Yes (Circle one)_

 _-Ashley_

 _PS. I'll turn you into a frog if you still say no.'_

"Man, you got another one of those?" A voice sounded behind him. Red turned around, greeting Mac with a small nod. "What's the deal with this Ashley chick?"

The other boy shrugged; this was the fifth letter he'd received this month. Still, he folded it up and placed it on top of the other four sitting in his locker. It was a bit pointless to stockpile the papers, but Red just didn't have the heart to throw them away.

If he were approached any other way, the pokémon trainer would have no problem being friends with someone who wanted to be so. But he'd never even talked to Ashley before; they had only ever seen each other in the halls at school. However, the girl was notorious for her insistence on being a witch, as well as her standoffish personality.

Obviously, the claims of witchitude were false (otherwise he would have actually been turned into a frog a long time ago), but she did seem plenty unapproachable to Red. The girl had never bothered to confront him in person, opting instead to slip the letters in his locker. Of course, he could've been the one to initiate the interaction in response to the letters, but the boy wasn't exactly the social type himself. For now, he just couldn't bring himself to do anything on his own.

The boy plucked his phone out of his pocket, pulling up a notes application and typing out, ' _How were your classes today?_ ' before flipping the screen around to let Mac read it.

"They were alright," The other boy shrugged, leaning back against the other lockers. "There was a test in my English class, but I think I did pretty good."

Red scrunched his nose up in a silent snicker, erasing his last message to type a new one out. ' _You mean pretty_ well? _Lol. Glad to hear it, hope you get an A._ '

He barely gave enough time for the boxer to read the response before flipping it back around, his fingers tapping against the screen as he was already writing his next message. Mac rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

The other boy shrugged, flipping the phone back around to Mac. ' _Any news from Toon Link and the others?'_

"Nothing about any of the captives, if that's what you mean." He replied after he finished reading. "But I heard that the five of them met up with these college kids and this police officer guy. It turns out they were doing their own sort of weird investigating about this whole issue, so I'm pretty sure we've teamed up now, or something like that."

Red's eyes lit up. To think that there were other people out there who had managed to catch on to what was going on without any outside help, and to have run into them! How lucky was that?

Mac read the other boy's expression, and smiled back, but the boxer didn't seem as pleased. "Lucina also said that we should just hang low for now and just focus more on locating potential targets than actively engaging the SSB."

The pokémon trainer paused, lips folding into a frown. He took a moment to think before he tapped out another message. ' _Uh, I know Lucina's like, from the future, and probably knows what she's doing, and I can respect wanting to be cautious, but uh, isn't that a little_ too _cautious?_ '

His friend nodded. "Yeah, I kinda feel the same way. I mean, there's probably a good reason behind it, but I just feel like we won't get anything done very quickly if all we do is work from the sidelines. And maybe it's not a bad thing to them, but the more time we have to take to bring down the SSB, the more time Shulk and Samus and Ness and any other innocent person has to spend stuck with those people. What if we aren't able to take down the organization before something horrible happens to them?"

Red could barely detect the quiver in the boxer's voice, and quickly moved to place a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. While it was true that the two of them had only gotten closer because of the events surrounding the SSB, and the trainer still didn't know very much about his friend's home life, he could guess that the disappearances of Samus and Shulk in particular were hitting him hard. After all, they were his family; how could he not? When all was said and done, Red held a lot of respect for how Mac was handling his situation.

Suddenly, the pokemon trainer froze, his hand moving back to his phone. "Huh?" Mac started, raising an eyebrow at Red as he flipping his phone screen around for him to read.

' _I have an idea! I know Lucina said no direct confrontation, but hear me out for a sec. Last time we tried to sneak into their hideout and it didn't go so well, but what if we tried flipping the situation around? Instead of us coming to them, let's try to get them to come to us!_ '

* * *

"Lucario, would you like some dessert?" Rosalina offered, moving to pick up the pokémon's dinner plate. Before she could reach for the dish, it picked it up on its own and stood up, scooting its chair back into place with its hind leg. The blonde haired woman blinked for a moment, then let it follow her to the kitchen sink. As she began washing the plates, Lucario picked up a dishtowel and dried them off, then placing them back into their respective cabinets. The pokémon stayed silent the entire time.

"Ah, thank you." Rosalina said, drying her hands off with a different towel after she finished her task. It had been a good while since the pokémon had come to stay at her house at the suggestion of Peach and the others, and the two of them had yet to break the ice with each other. Lucario insisted on being overly polite with everything, and while the blonde woman appreciated that it was trying to show gratitude for her hospitality, she couldn't help but feel like it also created an awkward barrier between them. "You never answered my question, though." She paused, thinking of something. "Have you ever had chocolate before?"

Lucario frowned, then shook its head. The other hummed in disappointment, then crossed to a different part of the kitchen and opened up the cabinet where she kept food, pulling out a chocolate bar. "Would you like to try some, then? It's delicious." Before she received a definitive answer, Rosalina unwrapped the packaging and broke off a row of chocolate squares, holding it out for the pokémon. Lucario sniffed it, then tentatively took it from the blonde and bit into it.

Rosalina's eyes twinkled in amusement as the pokémon's eyes widened. She could almost hear it start to growl in content before it abruptly stopped, as if refusing to show any weakness. Lucario quickly finished off the rest of the chocolate and bowed its head in thanks, then turned around and left the kitchen, most likely to retire to its room for the night.

The blonde haired woman unwrapped more of the candy and broke a piece off for herself, inwardly feeling a bit of pride that she was able to finally do something to crack the pokémon's aloof attitude. Granted, it wasn't by much, but Rosalina was a patient person, and forcefully dragging Lucario out of its shell wouldn't do either of them any good. For now, she was just content with the baby steps of progress she'd already made.

A soft creaking noise pulled her out of her thoughts. Rosalina started, swallowing the chocolate that was already in her mouth and displacing the rest of the confection on the counter. The sound could've just been the wind pushing against her old home, or Lucario opening one of the more squeakier doors. However, with the events that Rosalina had been made aware of recently, the woman did not want to let her guard down.

She crept out of the kitchen and into the living room, her movement slow and steady so that she didn't recklessly charge into the situation unprepared. The room was empty, save Lucario, who had undoubtedly heard the noise too.

Another creak, barely audible, punctured the tension. Neither could tell which direction it came from, but Lucario raised its paws, which began to glow with its aura. Rosalina reached over to her right for anything to be used as a weapon, her fingers wrapping around a short lamp. She reached down to unplug it from the wall.

"Show yourself!" Rosalina called out, gripping the lamp like a lifeline. The only response was a dull thump, as if something had just fallen onto the carpet. She followed the sound, moving out of the doorway and closer to the couch.

Lucario's ears perked; it gave a quick, sharp bark of warning that sounded too late. An arm covered in orange plating shot out from behind the furniture, nailing Rosalina straight in the gut. She gasped, stumbling backwards from the impact.

The intruder calmly moved out from behind the sofa, their body covered completely in orange armor. Although their face was completely masked by a helmet of the same color, it stared down Lucario as the pokémon stared back, a low growl in its throat. Rosalina, still recovering from the blow to her gut, could only watch to see what would happen.

Oddly enough, the intruder didn't move. "I think you know why I'm here, Lucario." For a moment, the blonde woman thought of the possibility of Robin being the one in the suit; but she quickly shook the thought out of her head. This person was much too tall, and their voice was distorted by the helmet. "Let's do this the easy way, please. I don't want to hurt you." They shook their head, disappointed, but Rosalina could not tell if the feeling was genuine.

Lucario seemed to understand, though. The glow of its paws died down, but they stayed raised.

The figure, too, seemed to lower their guard. They reached out a metal-coated hand, the palm facing upwards, as if asking for an agreement. Rosalina's gut clenched; she didn't need anyone to tell her what that offer was.

Still, the pokémon didn't hesitate. It huffed and shook its head, gently swatting away the figure's hand. Its paws began to glow once more as it prepared for a fight.

Likewise, the intruder clenched their fists; they were the first to attack, swinging out their right arm to land a punch near Lucario's head. It saw the attack coming and ducked out of the way, shooting its own paw out to strike its enemy's stomach. The force of the impact sent them stumbling a couple of steps back, but no real damage had been done to the armor; it even looked like the one who was wearing it was unaffected, as well.

Rosalina's grip loosened from the lamp, her eyebrows furrowed as she watched the two fight, feeling oddly calm about the way they were destroying her living room and how the pokémon was in danger. If Lucario's punch couldn't do anything against that armor, there was no way a measly old lamp could serve as a proper weapon. The blonde had to think outside the box; if they couldn't damage this person with brute force, what else would have to suffice?

An idea hit her, and she scrambled to her feet and back into the kitchen. The orange-clad intruder noticed her disappearance and made to follow, but Lucario launched itself onto them before they could take a step in her direction.

However, it was easily becoming evident that there was little more the pokémon could do to fight against this figure. Brute force was ineffective, and launching an aura sphere in such a small room would surely cause even worse damage than what had already been done (and Lucario refused to ruin anything else in the house if it could be helped).

There was little more than it could do than block any incoming attacks from the intruder, leaving them at a stalemate until Rosalina came shouting from the kitchen, her footsteps fast approaching. "Lucario, duck!"

The pokémon dropped to the floor immediately, leaving the other with no time to react before flames launched forward, straight towards their torso. They threw an arm up in self defense, the metal quickly heating up as the flames licked it. The wearer couldn't have been comfortable with that kind of heat. Lucario stared in awe as its enemy did well to hide their panic, but they wasted no time before rushing across the room and out of the open window, gone in almost an instant.

"Are you hurt, Lucario?" Rosalina asked; the pokémon looked back up at her, a used match in one hand and a can of air freshener in the other. It shook its head, standing back up to its full height. "What a relief," she sighed, discarding the can and match onto a side table and moving to take a seat on one of the ruined couches. Lucario could barely detect the unease in her voice.

It crossed the room to take a seat next to her. Neither of them said anything for a good few moments, hoping the silence and stillness would calm their nerves. "I hope I didn't injure that other person too badly," Rosalina finally mumbled.

* * *

 _Surprise, surprise, I haven't ditched this story. I won't lie though, during that holiday season I had a lot of distractions and not a lot of motivation. But meh, who's even still interested enough to care about this thing anyways, lol? For maybe like the two people who are, here's what I'm thinking right now: this impromptu haitus of mine isn't really over. Part of the reason I'm posting now is to at least let y'all know that. I don't think I'll be able to keep up with the weekly-update thing I wanted to have, which is kind of a letdown for myself, but meh. You live and you learn, and also college comes first. I'm still gonna be writing, but I won't start posting again until I have enough of a 'head start', so-to-speak, to actually keep up with that kind of posting schedule. Stay tuned, I guess, and thanks for reading!_


	12. Announcement

Very sorry this isn't an update after so long, but I felt like it was important I announce this so whoever is still interested in this story knows what's going on.

I think I'm going to stop writing this. I know I said I was just taking a hiatus, but as I was writing out future chapters, and looking back on what I already wrote, I just kept finding myself more dissatisfied and less motivated. For a superhero au, this had a lot of potential, and I feel like I didn't draw that out very well. I'm disappointed in how I handled the characters and the story, and I thought I could at least bring myself to finish this piece, but I can't.

What I do want to do is start over with it. I'll leave this version of the story up in case someone out there still wants to read it, and I don't have the heart to delete it, but this won't ever be finished. I can't tell you how long it'll take to write a new version other than 'a while,' but when I start publishing it, I'll probably re-name this story as the beta-version.

Again, I'm very sorry to anyone who was interested in reading this, but I just can't bring myself to finish a story I'm no longer interested in telling. I hope you'll be willing to give a newer version of this a try once I start posting it, but for now, thank you very much for reading as far as you did!


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